The Hades Chronicles I: Hades
by Basilisk9466
Summary: Formerly 'Welcome to Planet Hell'. Earth is in ruins, destroyed by the Alien menace. A group of people enlist on one of the last ships, not knowing that they will soon be fighting for their lives... Now complete. Look out for part two: Asphodel
1. Prologue and Author's notes

Welcome to Planet Hell is set shortly after the events in the book Aliens: Earth Hive. No characters from that series are represented here, but it provides a good background.

For those of you who have not read the book, here is a synopsis of the relevant storyline:

Some idiot corporation captured an infected human from a derelict freighter that had ended up in Earth orbit. The Alien within developed into a Queen and started laying eggs. Soon afterwards, a group of religious fanatics (who believed that Aliens were the messiah) broke into the facility and were infected. The resulting hive was quickly stamped out by the military, but too slowly; more hives sprang up everywhere. Earth was eventually given up as a dead loss, and evacuation was begun, mostly of important military personnel, with plans to launch nuclear warheads to try and cleanse the planet. Planet Hell opens shortly before the 'cleansing'...

A few sharp people may notice that although it uses 'Earth Hive' as a background, some of it is closer to the 'Official' quadrilogy. I'll say no more, as it's not particularly important.

Finally, I don't intend to say this for every chapter, as it's not a situation likely to change before I finish this. I have to admit that I don't quite see how exist based on the lengthy rules and regulations section, but disclaimers seem to solve this to some extent. So: I do not own Alien, Predator, or anything in connection with the aforesaid franchises apart from the characters and locations created for this story.

And yes, that does mean that there will be Predators... at some point...


	2. Chapter 1

"Name?" The question sounded as bored as its owner looked.

"Jake Lee."

"Evacuation pass?"

Jake handed over the innocuous document to the official.

"This is for eleven people. You know that's is against the rules. One pass per person."

Jake groaned. He'd hoped that that little detail would be missed by the ECPA - Evacuation Control Policing Authorities. "Give me a break here. The office where you get the things from was only half a kilometre from a hive. You expect me to print out eleven individual passes that near a bunch of bugs?"

"That would be another regulation broken. Each evacuee must print off their own pass, not obtain one from someone else."

"Please," Jake begged. "It's all legal. I even managed to get an official 'Ok' from ECPA headquarters, there at the bottom of the pass."

"For crying out loud... fine. Get through, take the rest of your menagerie with you. You'll be lucky to find a ship that'll take you, though. No military vessel will accept that thing, and there are one or two civilian ships at most. Now move. You're holding up the queue."

Jake breathed a sign of relief, and beckoned to the other ten evacuees waiting anxiously on the other side of the lengthy spaceport corridor.

"All fine?" asked Hukken. No one knew his first name.

"Yeah. There was a sticky patch when he made a thing about the pass being for multiple people, but he's let us through."

A murmur of relief spread through the group. No-one wanted to stay on a bug-infested world. Not even Earth.

* * *

"Look, I'm not taking less than thirty thousand each. People are paying fortunes for places aboard a civilian ship - the military aren't letting anyone on their ships." The captain of the **_Ariadne_** looked at the motley group sadly. "I'm sorry, but times are gonna be hard without Earth acting as a central hub. Those military assholes aren't gonna let anyone anywhere _near_ Earth after this catastrophe. Losing this place is bad enough - what happens if the bugs get to Centauri 7 or something? Avoiding Earth will pile up shipping prices, insurance..."

"Surely you can charge more on those trips?" asked Jake desperately. Getting past the ECPA had been the first hurdle. Getting around the problem of limited funds was turning out to be more difficult.

The other shook his head sadly. "Doesn't work like that. I need cash up front before all that starts." He hesitated. "I probably shouldn't tell you this. But there's a colony ship in Bay 39 waiting to go. They'll take all the people they can get - you'll probably be able to get aboard that cheaply."

"Colony ship?"

"Yeah. Mission was organised, funded and so on before the bugs got loose. Some far-off pen-pusher thought they ought to go ahead with the thing. Lunacy, in my opinion. The risk of infecting a new world..." With a nod, the captain walked over to his crew to help with loading the cargo.

"So what now? Bay 39?" asked Rachel, Jake's wife.

"I guess."

* * *

The colony ship was, for some unfathomable reason, named the **_Charon_**. It did not seem to be a good omen, travelling aboard a ship named after the boatman of the underworld.

Jake looked around at motley group of survivors, all that was left of a small town several miles away from New York. The last city on the planet to be reasonably free of Alien infection.

There was Hukken. A strange, private man who had only come to that town a month ago.

The Karlap family; Mara, and her two children Tom (six) and Kathy (thirteen). Tom Karlap senior had last been seen being dragged into a hive.

Thirty-year-old Warren Golzan, last survivor of a large family that had all died in an Alien attack. He still had nightmares about it.

Ex-Private First Class Holly Chance, who had lost her entire company during an ill-fated attack on a large hive. Rumour had it that she hadn't even fired a shot. No-one was quite sure if she had deserted, or simply been abandoned by the military in the aftermath of the incident.

His own family. Rachel, himself, and their son Rex (ten).

And the Gearing twins, Artemis and Anigel. They had escaped the fate of their parents and siblings by crawling through a hive in the middle of a heavy storm.

Jake sighed. His was the most complete family there. Everyone had suffered loss to the bugs. Even he had lost his youngest son, ripped apart right in front of him by an enraged Alien.

He sighed again. The past was gone. The entire _planet_ was gone. Taken by the bugs. The... what did Holly call them? Xenomorphs?

He strolled into the docking bay, and was intercepted instantly by a man wearing a very smart uniform and an air of command.

"Captain Caraeus Hector, atyerservice. I take it you're here to enlist aboard the **_Charon_**?"

Jake hesitated, caught off guard by the other's bluster. "Yes... Captain. I'm afraid that we don't have much money to pay for passage."

Hector waved the comment aside. "No charge. We need all the people we can get, a lot of the old crew have died since the Aliens started spreading. If you don't mind a bit of hard work, you're all welcome. Of course, you'll probably need to pool your funds with the rest of us, to try and get the colony on FLK-797 off the ground."

Jake looked around the group. He saw fear, anxiety, anticipation... and hope. He turned back to Hector, and nodded. "We're in. When do we leave?"

"You're just in time, as it happens. We're taking off in an hour - you fill up the crew complement nicely. Just need to load up the last few crates... Apparently there was a mix-up somewhere which delayed the last few... If you'll excuse me..."


	3. Chapter 2

"Colony vessel **_Charon_**, you are almost clear for launch. Please hold - we appear to have some trouble on the outer perimeter."

"New York Control, this is **_Charon_**. Surely if there is trouble, we should launch? I presume we're talking about toothy trouble?"

"**_Charon_**, shut your trap. You'll be cleared when we ascertain the problem." The voice abruptly became fainter, as though controller had turned away from the comms panel. "What the hell is kkkrrrrhhhh on?" Pause. "Oh, kkrrhhh! Keep them away from the tower!"

The faint 'kreeeo' of pulse rifle fire echoed across the comms channel, with even fainter screams and inhuman screeches in the background. Both noises grew in volume as the sources came closer.

"Evacuate kkkkrrrhhhhhh tower! Bugs incoming!" A loud crash. "Look out!" Weapons fire screamed over the channel.

"I've heard enough," snarled Hector, all business now. "There's probably no-one left to clear us. Helm: take off and set course for FLK-797."

A long grinding noise echoed through the ship as the outdated docking clamps strained to hold the ship on the ground, and then failed completely. Looking through the windows of the ship, Jake spotted other ships taking off all over the space port, and little black shapes swarming over the outer perimeter. So much for the last city.

"How did they break through so fast?" murmured Artemis Gearing. Despite only being fifteen, both she and her twin sister were mature beyond their years.

Holly snorted. "Damned pen-pushers. They must have put all the troops on the New York perimeter to try and keep the city safe. The bugs just swarmed a section and the whole thing must have collapsed. Nothing left to hold them back." She shook her head. "What a waste."

* * *

The **_Charon_**'s engines screamed as the ship strained against Earth's gravity. The ship looked nice from the outside, but the interior components looked like they had been constructed from second-hand spare parts. In other words, very poorly.

Jake looked at the hypersleep chamber dubiously. From what he had seen of the rest of the **_Charon_**'s components, the little stasis capsules did not fill him with confidence. "Are you sure we need to use those things? I'm happy to stay awake, personally."

Hector sighed. "I've told you already. If you're awake while in E-Space, it does weird things to your mind. I've used these things loads of times. They're perfectly safe. We've even got spares if things go wrong. Just relax and enjoy the ride."

A siren wailed briefly.

"That was the five-minute warning. The capsules are fully programmed - get in."

With a sigh, the fifty-strong crew of the colony ship got into the hypersleep capsules. The covers slid over, and quiet engulfed the ship.

Silence.

There was a small beep as the computer did a final check of its instructions. A message appeared on the main screen reading: "Final confirmation activated. Countdown to E-space: 0:04:00. Confirm?" The computer was programmed to automatically confirm this after those four minutes ended.

"0:03:45"

"0:03:30"

The computer detected input on the control panel. "0:03:15. Unable to deactivate countdown. Enter replacement instructions prior to countdown completion."

"0:03:00. New course input: Confirm?"

"0:02:45. Confirmed: Enter new course."

"0:02:15. Course entered. Activating new course."

The **_Charon_** groaned slightly, and the stellar vista changed as the ship changed direction.

"0:02:00. New Hypersleep capsule instructions. Confirm?"

"0:01:45. Confirmed. Enter new instructions."

"0:01:00. Failsafe mechanisms deactivated. Occupants will not be roused in event of capsule malfunction."

"0:00:45. New time perameters for hypersleep. Confirm?"

"0:00:30. Confirmed. Further instructions?"

Nothing more occurred. At '0:00:15', the computer detected the opening of a new hypersleep capsule, with different time perameters.

At '0:00:05', the computer detected the activation of the capsule.

And then, as it was programmed to do, the computer stimulated the jump to E-space. The **_Charon_** flickered, and then entered into the void of deep space.


	4. Chapter 3

The capsule lid slid back, and Jake blinked groggily in the light. "We there?"

"Don't know," commented Mara. "The captain's just gone to the bridge to find out. In the meantime, he suggested we all get showered and changed - it'll help revive us a bit. By the way, have you seen Tom?" She waved the question aside. "Stupid question. You only just woke up. Never mind."

* * *

"This can't be right..." 

Hector looked at the readings, ordered the computer to rescan, and then read the unchanged screen.

According to the computer, they were approximately fifty light-years from the nearest charted star, and over seventy from FLK-797. The time was also wrong - apparently, they had woken up almost a week behind schedule.

The final problem was that the hypersleep capsules were malfunctioning, and all seventy-five were recharging, instead of the fifty that had been used. The computer, after scanning the malfunctioning pods, said that the extras had not been used.

All this was probably due to a glitch in the programming. The EX-3500 model computers were notoriously twitchy, but they were cheap. And unfortunately, 'cheap' was the **_Charon_**'s middle name.

Unfortunately, it was a serious glitch. The other important feature of the **_Charon_**, the power core, hadn't been designed for such extended journeys. It probably wouldn't last out to reach the nearest habitable planet on the stellar charts. Without power, the **_Charon_** would simply skip out of E-space, lose life support... everything. Fifty people would die in the middle of nowhere.

"So, how's our new home look?" asked Jake as he walked onto the bridge, followed by a few other would-be colonists.

Hector slowly turned around and explained the situation.

There was silence on the bridge.

A sudden squawk from the intercom ended the moment. Almost looking like his normal self, Hector flipped a switch. "Bridge here."

"Captain, this is Anigel Gearing. You said to check the cargo bay. We just found something bad."

"What do you mean?"

"We just found Tom Karlap. Or at least we think that's who it is."

There was an edge of panic in the voice that prevented further questions. "On our way."

* * *

The cargo bay doors opened, and Hector, Mara, Hukken and Jake walked into the cargo bay.

And stopped.

The reason for Anigel's uncertainty was revealed. The body was about the right size, and wore hypersleep clothing. But the lack of either a head or a stomach made identification difficult. Blood was splattered all over the floor.

Mara screamed, a wild, furious scream of a mother that has lost their offspring. The other newcomers simply turned white with shock and horror.

"We just found him like that," said Anigel, looking on the edge of sanity. "He must have got out of the capsules before anyone else, because no-one had seen him since before we entered hypersleep."

"That's not all," said Artemis, who didn't look much better. "We were inspecting the cargo after we found him... I mean, we had to do _something_, we couldn't just keep -"

"Artemis. Breathe. Slow down."

The girl took several deep breaths. "One of the crates has been opened. We looked inside, but it was empty. Then we looked around and found an input terminal on the outside apart from the opening controls. We tried to access it, but it was password locked."

Hector nodded. "Show me."

The Gearing twins led him to the largest container in the bay - it looked like it could hold a decent-sized tank. The the main doors were open, revealing an empty space. As he looked carefully, he noticed that the walls of the container were massively thick. Why? he mused.

"This is the other panel," said Anigel, who was calming down now that they were out of sight of the body.

The panel in question was a squat, business-like affair that had been built into the container so tightly that it was amiracle that it had been spotted at all. Hector pressed a button experimentally, and the screen flashed a gentle password request.

"I've seen one of those before," said Hukken. He sounded shaken, and his attitude indicated that the panel had worried him more than the dead body. "It's a military design. Pre-infection Earth. Designed to transport large, powerful organisms over long distances." He shut his eyes in faint horror. "This is a stasis chamber."

That explained the thick walls - they contained the stasis equipment. Hector, for his part, was stillunsure what the problem was. "So someone made a mistake with the cargo manifests and gave us an empty crate."

"Oh, for crying out loud, man! That boy didn't kill himself. Something was in this crate, and it escaped!" Hukken was practically screaming. "And it also means that we're not alone. Tom Karlap couldn't have opened this crate - he probably wouldn't have even noticed the panel."

Jake, who had joined them, had a sudden image. "And the stasis controls wouldn't let you open the crate without deactivating the stasis."

"Exactly! We have both something capable of ripping a boy open with ease... and someone who would want to release it."

Hector moved over to wall-mounted computer interface and punched in a command. He looked up and said "According to this, Tom Karlap exited hypersleep six hours ago. Why would this... traitor... need him?" He considered, and then answered his own question. "Because all these crates are fingerprint controlled. This man wouldn't have the right fingerprint, so he needed Tom..."

"Who died subsequent to releasing the beast," finished Hukken. "But why are we talking about a 'beast'? We all know what this is. There's only one creature that could cause this sort of damage to a boy. We've got a goddamned Alien on board."

* * *

In the rafters of the cargo bay, the crew was being watched. While the watcher pondered his next move. 

He hadn't anticipated the crew working it out so quickly. But then, he hadn't anticipated Hukken being on board either.

They would have worked it out sooner or later. Maybe it was better this way. There was no time to play games, if any were to survive the navigation error.

The watcher swore quietly. Obviously the computer hadn't liked the new set of instructions given to it after the E-space countdown had begun, and tried to do both sets of instructions at once. The result was that the **_Charon_** was nowhere near either destination.

There were several ways that this mess could end. And the watcher didn't like any of them.


	5. Chapter 4

_Small edit for this one: I only just discovered that doesn't keep ' ' and '>' when you upload documents. Hopefully Alien speech will be a bit less irritating now._

Hector slowly walked onto the bridge, closely followed by Mara, Hukken, Jake and Holly. The escape from Earth, from the Aliens, had not been permanent as he had hoped. As they had all hoped.

"What are our options?" asked Jake. He, like all of them, looked as though he had aged ten years.

"We've got a few weapons…" Hector paused. "Simple hunting stuff, mostly. A few lasers and pellet-throwers. The trouble is that the bugs' armour is too thick for most of our weapons to do any damage. Even if we could, we've got the acid to remember. **_Charon_** isn't a warship; if the acid spills on the floor and eats its way through the hull, we'll probably blow up from explosive decompression. Or at the very least we'll die of asphyxiation."

Silence.

"So we're dead?" asked Mara, with a humourless laugh. "Well, I for one don't intend to give those things the _privilege_ of ripping us apart without a fight. If we blow the hull, so what? You said it yourself – we don't have enough power to get to a habitable planet."

"Wait," said Holly. "Who says we have to spill their blood to kill them? They told us in the military that the best way of killing a xenomorph in a ship-board situation is to blow it out of an airlock. We'd need a bit of luck, but it has been done."

Unfortunately, that premise relies on there only being one or two… xenomorphs.> The voice echoed through their minds without going via their ears, almost as though they themselves were thinking the words. But there was a distinct, alien quality to the thoughts, which put paid to any such idea.

A large, black shape unfolded from the ceiling and dropped silently to the floor. It was clearly an Alien drone, but even larger than normal, at nearly four metres long. It hissed, and more shapes dropped to the floor, for a total of five drones. All were massive specimens.

The humans crowded together as the creatures advanced, stopping a metre or so away. The first one moved forward slightly, and the voice came again.

As you can see, you are out of your depth. A clever idea, Holly Chance, but as I said, impractical. Especially now that the entire hive knows to avoid the airlocks.>

"That's impossible," muttered Jake. "Aliens can't talk!"

And I see that you survived our last encounter, Dr. Edward Hukken.>

Hukken sighed softly. "I should have known it was you. Only you would have the audacity to hide an entire hive inside a stasis chamber."

Hector spun to look at the man. "You knew there was an entire hive of these monstrosities on my ship?" he said icily.

"And you know this Alien?" added Jake.

"I didn't know for sure! I hoped that… that…" Hukken trailed off. "And yes, I do. I know this entire hive. After all…" He sighed again. "I helped bring them into existence."

Which is a story for another time,> said the drone, cutting him off. There are more urgent matters to attend to. The Queen is… not happy. You were never meant to know we were even here. But my sabotage of the nav-computer was not entirely successful. She feels that the only way that the hive can escape intact is if we cut the power drain dramatically. No hypersleep, no life support… and no humans. She has ordered that the crew be killed, but I persuaded her to hold off so that I could encourage you to surrender.>

Hector laughed harshly. "Why should we do that? So that you don't lose any of your precious hive? No thanks, bug. You want us, you have to take us."

One of the other drones hissed and started to advance, but retreated at a look from the leader. No. If you do surrender, we can work together to get us all out of this mess. Please understand that I am the only thing stopping you from all being slaughtered. The drone stepped forwards and looked at them intently. I… wouldn't like that.>

"He's telling the truth," said Hukken quietly. "He always was honest."

Hector looked between the two, and then nodded. "If you can guarantee that none of us will be harmed, I'll persuade the crew to surrender."

I can make no guarantees. I have some influence with Her, but not that much. I can only give you hope.>

Hector looked at the Alien. It had no eyes to connect with. There was no way of knowing if it was telling the truth.

Hector shook his head. "This is a decision no man should have to make." He paused. "But I'll trust you. I'll try to get the crew to surrender. But if you've betrayed us…"

The drone merely seemed to grin.

* * *

"To all of the crew and colonists of the **_Charon_**, I bring you grave news." The words echoed through the ship, transmitted by the intercom. "As you may have heard, we have some bugs on the ship. But we have just found out that we're not dealing with just one or two." Hector paused. 

"An entire hive has occupied the ship. They have communicated with me, and given us all a simple ultimatum: Surrender and live; or fight and die. I have been assured that if we surrender, we will not be harmed. The Aliens wish to take control of the ship with as little bloodshed as possible. If we work together, we may find a way for both of us to survive."

"I beg you to consider their offer. I and several others have already surrendered to the Aliens, and have no wish to see any of you die. Please… trust me. I will find us a way to survive."

Hector looked at the intercom panel, and snapped it off. "I've kept my word. I'm waiting for you to keep yours."

I have looked through the ship's computer. And I believe that I have found a way for us to reach a habitable planet… but not without some risk. Patience. I must report to the Queen, then I will return.> The drone looked at its companions, and then leapt for the ceiling. The Aliens swarmed through the air vent, and were gone.

Jake turned to Hukken. "You," he said, poking the other in the chest, "have some explaining to do. Like how you know a bunch of talking bugs."

Hukken smiled grimly. "It's a long story."

"We don't have anything else to do," returned Holly.

"All right. It all started nine months ago…"


	6. Chapter 5

_Edit: More 'Alien speech' problems. See chapter 4._

"I was a military scientist, working for a special bio-technology branch," said Hukken. "We didn't do any biological warfare stuff – not in my section, anyway. We were working on enhancing the human body, mostly; creating 'super soldiers' out of normal humans, working on the next-generation 'droids… that sort of thing. Then the infestation happened."

* * *

"As you probably know, Earth has been infected by a parasitic, predatory life form," said General Gorson. "What you may not know is that we've been aware of them for some time. We've given this lab access to all known information on the xenomorphs, as we call them. You'll need for your next project." 

"What will that project be, sir?" asked Dr. Haines, geneticist and commanding officer of the section.

"We want you to study those Aliens until your eyes bleed, doctor. We want information on what makes them tick, how they can be killed… and how they can be controlled. You see, doctors," the General continued, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, "High Command wants these 'morphs to be the next big thing in warfare. I want you to create the ultimate weapon with those things – enhance them, if you like – and make sure that Command gets what it wants."

* * *

"So we did," said Hukken. "Despite plenty of encounters with xenomorphs, there was precious little information to work on. Then we got some luck; Gorson provided us with a batch of Alien DNA. We played with it, and managed to create a few cloned 'morphs. And then, when we were happy, we started altering them. We had realised that only the Queens had any true intelligence, and that was mixed in with a healthy chunk of independence, as we'd found out from our clones. So we played with their brains, trying to create something that could be ordered around. From that, we created the hive we saw today; bigger, stronger and more intelligent even on the drone level than the originals. But we still couldn't get any control over them. That was when Haines seemed to go insane…"

* * *

"With all due respect, you must be mad, sir. It wouldn't make any difference!" 

"That's where you're wrong, Hukken. Xenomorphs gain traits of their host's DNA, but that gets corrupted along the way. Using a retrovirus would eliminate that corruption."

("What's a retrovirus?" asked Hector. "An artificial virus designed, upon entering a cell, not to replicate itself, but to convert the cell's DNA to a preset design," explained Hukken.)

"Besides," continued Haines. "What do we have to lose? We have the ultimate killing machine down there (he jabbed a thumb towards the area containing the hive) and nothing to do with it. If we use that DNA to convert a human into an Alien, we'll potentially have all the advantages with none of the disadvantages." He waved a hand for emphasis. "The left-over human DNA will allow the creature to be more open to control. Hopefully."

* * *

"We found a kid on the street soon afterwards. He was pretty roughed up – lost his family to xenomorphs and was wandering the streets trying to survive. We took him in, gave him a room, and soon after gave him a 'flu inoculation'. It was nothing of the sort, of course. It was the retrovirus." 

"You absolute…" Mara was lost for words. "Taking in the poor boy and subjecting him to that!"

Hukken shrugged helplessly. "I couldn't do a thing. Haines ran the whole show. Although… I was excited too. I didn't like the idea, but I was happy with it." He snorted. "You're right, I was a barstard."

* * *

"How are you today?" asked Hukken as he opened the door. He stopped in shock at the sight. 

"What did you do?" The boy's voice was almost a hiss, as though his vocal cords were no longer fully functioning. His body was a mess of white, soft skin and black, shiny carapace. His hands had changed completely, and had sprouted long claws. A short, whip-like tail protruded from his back. Muscles rippled where they were still visible. "That was no flu inoculation!"

"Try to relax," Hukken said soothingly. "It'll be over soon."

"It will be for you if you don't stop this!" The strange, half-and-half creature lunged, claws flashing, but doubled over in pain. The loose coat he was wearing abruptly ripped and the long, characteristic spines rose from his back. The aberration raised its head, gave Hukken a look of pure hatred with its small, slit-like eyes and leapt.

Hukken belatedly backed off, but if his attacker hadn't suffered another spasm, he would have been hit by the creature.

"I'll leave you, shall I?" He backed through the door, locking it after him.

"A few teething troubles?" smirked Haines, who had materialised at his shoulder.

"I didn't expect such a violent reaction," said Hukken defensively. "Clearly the shock of the transformation, combined with the new xenomorph DNA, produced psychopathic tendencies."

Haines merely grinned.

* * *

"How is he?" asked Haines. 

"See for yourself," responded the Marine guarding the cell. He pushed a control, and a hologram of the cell's contents appeared.

Inside was nothing more, and nothing less, than a fully-grown Alien drone. The last traces of humanity had been erased from creature.

Haines stared at his creation intently. "And now the acid test. Does it reach our standards? Or do we spill its acid?" He chuckled at his own joke. "Switch on the force field, and send in Dr. Kail. Let's see how it responds."

Kail, a recent addition to the team, had been chosen for this 'first contact' for her small size and unthreatening characteristics. She nodded briefly at Haines, and opened the door.

The xenomorph detected her presence instantly, and slowly uncoiled from its resting position. The creature looked at her, as though puzzled.

>I haven't seen you before. Kail almost had a heart attack as the voice echoed through her head. The good Dr. Haines has decided to investigate the results of his little experiment, I take it?>

"You…" She gulped for air. "You can speak…"

>More than that,> was the acid response. >Your precious experiment has the mind that he started off with. You transformed me into the creature that destroyed my life. And if you think I'll play along with your sordid little project, think again.>

* * *

"He was like that for a while. We eventually persuaded him to at least talk to us." Hukken paused. "Or at least partly. His telepathic abilities were impressive – he seemed able to view the world through our eyes, at least partly. He insisted that we didn't monitor his contact with Kail. There didn't seem to be any harm at the time; she reported everything that happened. In retrospect… you'll see when I tell you the rest. 

"Haines, for his part, was delighted with the result. He called up Gorson, and started asking for military volunteers. Ten came through, and we started injecting them with the retrovirus."

* * *

"How are the patients?" asked Haines cheerfully. 

The Med-tech in charge of the ten volunteers gave him an icy look, and switched on the screens that monitored them. The view made even Haines breathe in sharply.

Eight cameras showed horrific combinations of human and Alien. "They're all dead," said the Med-tech bluntly, gesturing at them. "Various causes. Four due to losing organs while they still needed them. Suffocation due to having no lungs… that sort of thing. The other two's immune systems started rejecting the new Xenomorph cells, and the new cells returned the favour."

She turned to the ninth camera, which showed an apparently healthy drone, but it was un-naturally still. "As far as we can tell, this one underwent the change without problems. However, his mind was lost… that thing is even more psychopathic than the average 'morph if it detects something that could be prey, and it just stays like this the rest of the time. It doesn't even have consciousness as we would recognise it; just a bundle of instincts."

The tenth camera showed a drone. The fact that there was another Med-tech next to it, without the Alien attacking him, indicated that it was the sole success. "Not a brilliant record, is it?" she snarled. "One success out of ten. General Gorson will _not_ be pleased. I suggest you fine-tune your little virus, or risk losing your funding. Which you've been drawing on quite heavily…"

* * *

Kail shut the security door behind her. "Things just went wrong." 

>The other… experiments were not successful. I know. The only one that was successfully transformed will not survive for long. He refuses to join the hive, and under the current circumstances we cannot afford a rogue. The Queen is slowly driving him insane even as we speak.>

"Current circumstances. Then you still want to proceed with your plan."

>Yes. Do you? We have reached a junction in time. If you back down now… things will become difficult for the entire base, including you. If you help us…>

"You're sure that they're not watching us?" whispered Kail. "This is tantamount to treason."

>Relax. I'd know. The Queen is a very good teacher.>

"I still don't see why She would accept you into the hive so quickly."

The drone gave a mental shrug. >Why not? But now is not the time.> The xenomorph looked at her piercingly. >This is no time for second thoughts. You know that eventually someone will slip up and we'll get out. This way will be far less bloody. It paused. That's what we both want.>

Kail sighed. "Having seen what both you and the 'original' hive are capable of… all right. But… I really don't want anyone to get hurt. They're idiots – Haines particularly. But I don't want anyone to die."

The other was silent for a long time. >I'm human too. Sort of. I can make no promises. I'm no fortune teller. But I will try to keep this under control.>

Kail nodded sadly, and clicked the interior door panel. A few seconds later it opened at the guard's order.

"Doctor? That was cut short. Is there a problem?"

Kail looked back towards the room one final time, and then acted. She snatched away the guard's pistol, clubbed him with the butt, and opened first the door, then the inner containment field. The guard looked at her in horror as he raised himself from the floor.

The guard raised the pulse rifle and tracked towards the cell's door, evidently deciding that the potentially escaping drone was a higher priority. He was too slow; the drone leapt out and flicked its stinger at his chest. The guard groaned, clutching at the wound, and then collapsed as the paralysing toxin took effect.

The drone turned to look at Kail, and flicked a claw towards the door. >Run. I cannot guarantee your safety when the hive is released.>

She needed no second order, but sprinted away.

* * *

"That bitch… that absolute BITCH!" shrieked Haines as the scene unfolded on the security screens. "I KNEW she was up to something. That bloody drone must've insisted on no monitoring so that we couldn't intrude on their cosy little chats." He spun to look at the marine Colonel standing at his side. 

"I'm sick of all those xenomorphs cluttering up the cells," he snarled furiously. "We have the retrovirus. Kill the escapee and terminate the hive."

The drone watched Haines' outburst coldly. The fool should have been watching the screens more carefully; Kail had managed to delay the camera footage's transmission before breaking him out. If he had been looking more carefully, he would have spotted that the time index on the footage was fifteen minutes slow.

It was tempting to pounce now and deal with Haines immediately – his Xenomorph instincts were screaming for the taste of warm flesh, and his human mind was eager for vengeance. But he had promised Kail that no-one would be harmed. First release the hive, then see what happened…

_Evance: Yes, the chapters have been a little on the short side to begin with. Hopefully it should start to bulk out a bit._


	7. Chapter 6

_Edit: Yet more Xeno speech problems. Hopefully this is the last time I'll have to comb through them to locate the oddities._

"What's going on?" asked the scientist.

The first marine checked the computer panel, entered an access code, and read the message. "Says… terminate the hive." He whistled. "Something big must've happened. That hive has been Haines' pride and joy since it was created."

The scientist shrugged, and went to 'Hive Environmental Controls' panel. Tapping in the access code to activate the panel, he navigated through the computer, looking for the 'Hive Termination' process…

* * *

The drone ran through the air vents as though being chased by every demon in existence. Or maybe every angel, given his form. 

>Matriarch!> he screamed. >The humans are going to destroy the hive!>

The world seemed to alter slightly, as the Queen's mental focus switched onto him. ¬_Why now? What has happened?¬_

>I persuaded a human to release me. Obviously my escape convinced the humans that keeping a full hive is more trouble than it is worth.>

The Queen's mental touch became amused. ¬_So it would seem that humans are good for more than just food and hosts.¬_ She paused. ¬_I take it that you made a deal with this human?¬_

The drone groaned silently. >Yes,> he admitted. >I promised that bloodshed would be kept to a minimum during the breakout. We couldn't have stayed here, anyway,> he continued hurriedly, >it would have been far too obvious. A simple application of a tactical warhead would wipe us out with ease. I ->

She cut him off. ¬_It won't be possible. You forget, little Shadow, that you are not the only one who knows something of how humans think. They will try to stop and kill us at every turn. I trust your judgement, due to your circumstances of creation, so I will not send the hive to cleanse the facility of humans. But if any get in our way, they _will_ be destroyed.¬_ She paused. ¬_Remember that despite the fact that your mind is still (at least partly) human, you are one of us now. You will have to make a choice soon.¬_

>What choice?>

She laughed. ¬_You're not _that _naïve. You know what I mean…¬_ With that last comment, she faded from his mind.

Shadow snorted. It was a name that She had given him when he first contacted her. She had said that sensing him had been like seeing a little shadow on the wall where none should be. He'd tried to insist she use his real name, but he stopped soon. That person was dead now. He didn't even remember what that name had been.

He did know what she meant. The next time he encountered a human with a gun, that human would shoot him. And he might not be able to sting his assailant. It would be a case of kill, or be killed. The question was, did he have the willpower to kill a man?

* * *

"Ah! Here it is. Private, will you please request confirmation of the termination order, and the method suggested." 

The marine tapped the request into the comms panel. The reply flared up soon after. "Termination confirmed. Suggested method: incineration." He whistled again. "They want the hive gone so much that they don't care about the bodies, it would seem."

The scientist selected the 'Incinerate' option on the control panel. The cells containing the hive had several industrial-scale incinerators, capable of blasting out 2000 degrees into the sector. Not even a Xenomorph could survive that.

The touchpad seemed slightly sticky. As he pulled his hand away, a thick, gluey sheen pulled away from the controls.

The scientist remembered where he had seen this substance at the same time that Shadow's tail flicked out and sent paralysing toxins flooding into his system.

The marine spun as he heard the thump of the scientist's body hitting the floor, but saw nothing. Picking up the pulse rifle from the wall-rack, he moved cautiously over to the limp body.

He had a sudden realisation, and raised the pulse rifle to the ceiling. Shadow snatched the weapon away and crushed it with relative ease, before pouncing on the unfortunate man.

>Somehow I doubt that the hive doors will just open at my command,> he said, with a soft hiss. >So I'm going to politely ask you to give me the access code that will do it. If you like, I can ask _im_politely.>

The marine had turned the colour of milk, and he shook as he said, "I don't know. Honestly, I don't! Only Dr. Haines, Colonel Brokken and General Gorson have the codes to open the hive!"

Shadow swore silently, and stung the marine.

_¬What's happening?¬_ asked the Queen.

>I need an access code to open the doors. The only three people who have that code are too heavily defended to attack.>

She considered this. ¬_How about that human ally of yours? Would she be able to help?¬_

>Perhaps. I don't know how to contact her, though.>

* * *

The base was in disarray. Scientists had joined the marines and were blockading the corridors, leaving just Haines, Hukken and Colonel Brokken in the most easily defendable position, an operating theatre. 

The door opened, and Kail was shoved in by a pair of marines, who left to return to the defences.

"So, Dr. Kail, welcome to my little house of fun," said Haines with a mad glint in his eye.

Kail stared at the scientist, terrified. Haines had always been sadistic, but he now looked insane. His eye twitched as he noticed her look.

"Scared? You should be scared, you little BITCH! You've ruined us! You –"

"Maybe you should calm down, sir," said Colonel Brokken.

"Calm? I'm perfectly calm. Let me show you how calm I am!" Haines drew his standard-issue pistol and shot the marine in the head repeatedly. "See? Calm! I'm calm, you're calm… we're all calm!" He spun back to Kail. "So, little bug-lover. What did that thing do, eh? What did he promise? Stay right there, Hukken! Move another step and I'll shoot you!"

Kail whispered something. "Speak up, girl! Or I'll make you speak up! Wait, I'll do that anyway!" Haines drew the pistol again and swung it at her. There was a nasty crack as her nose broke from the butt's impact.

"They were going to get out eventually!" she screamed. "He said they wouldn't hurt anyone!"

"Oh yes, the word of a bloody Alien. That couldn't be it. I know… you're one of those bug-cultists, aren't you? You'd give anything to get one of those eggs shoved down your throat. I bet the idea of one of those little barstards ripping your chest open as it escaped was what sent you to sleep at night…" Haines swung the pistol again. "Well, I'm not having one of those on my base! See?" He waved a hand at the surroundings. "My base! Mine! No one can take it from me! Not even you, Hukken!"

"What are you talking about, sir? I'd never try to replace you!" said Hukken desperately.

"Liar!" Haines shrieked. He shot Hukken in the leg. "You're not going to take over if you can't walk, though." He suddenly seemed calm. "Now, my dear, where were we?"

Hukken mewled slightly from the pain.

"Shut it, you! Oh yes, I remember." Haines clubbed Kail again, and shoved her onto the operating table. "Since you love bugs so much," he snarled, snapping the restraints into place, "Let's see how much you like being one!"

"Sir! If you turn her, we'll have another Alien loose in the base!"

"Hah! You won't undermine my authority that way, Hukken. Haven't you forgotten the ninety per cent failure rate? And eighty per cent DEATH RATE? You hear that, Kail? DEATH! That's the price of wanting to be a Xenomorph. I've tried to persuade you not to undergo the procedure, but what can I do? I must bow to your wishes…"

Haines snatched an injector that had been readied for the next batch of experiments, slammed it into her side, and pressed the button. "A bit of an overdose, I'm afraid, but I'm sure you won't mind. Will you?"

Kail shrieked as the retrovirus attacked her body. Her skin turned black as the huge overdose spread through her system like wildfire.

Hukken stared in horror as her shape squeezed and changed, her mind-numbing shriek continuing even as it melded into an utterly alien screech. The bottom of the table shattered outwards as her tail sprouted. A spasm passed through the apparition, and the restraints snapped like paper. The spines rose from her back, and with one final ripping sound her uniform shredded to reveal a complete transformation into Alien.

The newly-created drone was motionless. Silence spread through the operating theatre.

"Bitch," said Haines, breaking the silence.

* * *

Shadow screeched as the waves of mental agony rolled through him. The sense was a strange mixture of human and Alien, but it slowly changed to Alien, before finally falling silent. 

_¬It seems that we have a newcomer,¬_ said the Queen. Even She sounded shaken.

Shadow hissed softly. >I recognised the mind. It was the human who released me.>

The Queen pondered this. ¬_If she has not lost her mind or died due to the transformation, this may be a development for the better._ _I will try to contact her.¬_

Shadow took a deep breath, out of habit. Aliens don't really need to breathe, but it steadied his nerves. He wasn't sure if she would be able to hear him from this distance – drone speech was limited in range – but he had to try. He felt no particular connection to her, but it was his fault that she had been subjected to that.

>Kail! Can you hear me?>

* * *

"And as for you, traitor…" said Haines, finally turning away from the body. 

_Kail slowly woke. She realised that the world looked different, and in a flash remembered the pain. What had happened before that? It was so difficult…_

"Sir, please!" begged Hukken. "I'd never do anything against you. What have I done?"

_She could hear something. What were they called? Voices? That sounded right. She recognised that voice. _

"Don't lie to me, Hukken! I've seen your looks, your little conversations. You don't like my leadership of this project! You want to take it over!"

_Another voice. She recognised that voice as well. Anger blazed at the owner of the new voice, but she still couldn't remember why…_

"No! Please, sir. I'm loyal to you! I'd do anything for you! How can I prove myself?"

_The voices belonged to people. She looked at herself, recognised the shiny, black shell. Not people like her. People with soft, white skin and red flesh and blood. The word 'human' floated through her mind. Yes, the speakers were human. And she was… Alien. Yes. That was the word that attached itself to her kind._

>Kail! Can you hear me?>

_Another voice. This one in her mind. It seemed more natural than this human twittering. So wasteful. How could they communicate in a hunt? Silence is paramount in a hunt._

_¬You brought such pain to us. Your change must not have been easy.¬_

_Yet another voice. Also in her head. An image of a huge, six-limbed creature with a long, elaborate crest appeared in her mind. The word 'Queen' followed it. Some thought that was not entirely her own said, "I need a Queen…"_

>I need a Queen…>

_She said it out loud in her mind, knowing that it would reach those of her kind, almost for fun._

_¬I can feel her mind and body. Her transformation was too quick. She is in shock.¬_

>I can almost see it… she can't stay like that! Haines could finish her off at any moment! It must have been him who changed her.>

_Haines. The word neatly attached itself to the voice that she hated. Did she know this… Haines?_

Haines looked at the pitiful figure in front of him. "Too late, Hukken. We're all dead. Thanks to her," he said, with a gesture at the operating table. "I might as well finish it right here. But not before I inflict a bit more suffering on that… thing!"

_Images flooded through her. Images of a human named Kail. It led up to the human being tied onto a table, and a serum of this… retrovirus being injected._

_It hit her. She was Kail. Haines was behind her. And there was nothing to stop her from taking revenge._

Haines aimed the pistol at the dead Alien, and pulled the trigger.

He got off one shot before Kail leapt at him, scything her claws through the air.

Haines fell to the floor with a scream of terror. "Hukken, help me! I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said! I wasn't thinking straight!"

>You'll think a lot less straighter without a head to think with!> shrieked Kail.

_¬Hold.¬_

Kail stopped, claws about to rip the scientist apart.

_¬We need him alive. Or at least, Shadow says we do.¬_

>Shadow?>

>That would be me,> said the drone matter-of-factly. >I can't see what you're doing the way the Queen can, but I would assume that you are about to rip Haines apart. We need the access code to release the hive, and he's the only one who has it.>

Kail paused. >Why should I help you? I let you out, that was it. I don't want more blood on my hands.>

>Empty reflex. I thought that way at first as well.>

_¬You talk of blood on your hands. If I hadn't stopped you, you would have that in plenty.¬_

Kail looked down at the quivering Haines as though seeing him for the first time. A drop of blood oozed from the pistol wound and fell to the floor, hissing as the acid ate through the metal. They were right. Empty reflex. Like it or not, this was her fight now.

She focused her thoughts on Haines, allowing the human to hear them. >It seems that we need you, scum. The access code to release the hive. Now.>

Hukken stared at her. "Kail, stop! I understand you wanting to hurt Dr. Haines, but not joining them! You're human! You wanted to prevent bloodshed. Releasing the hive will increase it!"

>Too late,> she said quietly. >Thanks to our friend here, I'm now on the other side. And releasing the hive is my best hope of survival.>

"Selfish bitch," hissed Haines. "If you think I'll ever tell you anything…"

Kail looked at him, and then swiped her claws across his chest. Blood spurted from the wounds, and the scientist screamed.

>I can keep doing that.>

"You deplored violence before!" shrieked Hukken. "Just stop! We'll work out a reverser for the virus! You can be human again!"

>Like I said, too late. You know as well as I do that this facility is finished. Even if all of us are rounded up and put into pens, do you really think that General Gorson would fund a reverser? Where's the profit? And besides,> she said, combing her claws with the tongue-like inner jaws and enjoying the taste, >I kinda like this.>

The threat of impending death seemed to finally restore Haines' sanity. He stared at the creature that towered over him. "Angels of death bring the only redemption. Sigma seven-three-dee-nine, safety override nine-six."

Kail would have smiled if her new form's face muscles allowed it. >Shadow! Listen carefully.> She repeated the code, and turned back to Haines. >Death's too good for you, after all you've done. You destroyed the lives of twelve people with that retrovirus of yours, and every death that occurs while we escape will be on your hands. Remember that.> She leapt onto the ceiling, and shredded the grating to enter the air vents.

"Note to self," muttered Hukken. "Don't stay in a room connected to the air vents when bugs are on the loose."

* * *

Shadow tapped in the long command sequence into the computer. 

"Access code accepted," said the computer tonelessly. "Command to release hive containment accepted. Please confirm and re-enter code."

Shadow repeated the code.

"Command accepted and confirmed. Releasing hive containment."

The thick panels slowly retracted from the wall, and slid apart. A faint, distinctive burnt plastic smell drifted from the darkness, but nothing else occurred.

A clawed hand wrapped itself around the doorway, and a quartet of drones leapt into the room.

¬Enemies?¬ they inquired. They didn't have the same 'tones' as the Queen, but Shadow knew that their… purer… DNA meant that their telepathy was different to his, which in turn prevented them from communicating with humans.

>No. Not here, anyway. They will probably be setting up defences around this sector to contain us.>

_¬A perimeter we must break. I know that you don't have any experience of human warfare, but do you have any suggestions?¬_

As Shadow considered this, a dark shape jumped from the air vent.

>Did I miss anything?> asked Kail.

Shadow looked at her amusedly. She had come a long way from the slightly paranoid, pacifistic human, if the Queen's description of her encounter with Haines was anything to go by. >Not really. The code worked, as you can see.>

¬There is no time for idle discussion,¬ broke in one of the drones. ¬The humans will be reinforcing their defences as we speak.¬

Shadow thought for a moment, and then it hit him. >I have an idea…>

* * *

The three marines and two scientists charged with guarding Sector Five Corridor Seven had created a highly unpleasant set of defences. Each armed with pulse rifles, and equipped with a scatter cannon primed and ready to fire down the corridor, a frontal assault would be suicide against them. 

It was something of an anti-climax that when the drones dropped on them from the air vent, not a single shot was fired. About ten seconds later, the Aliens returned to the tunnels, leaving several blood-spattered corpses.

In the corridors all over the base, similar scenes occurred.

Haines watched the security cameras with horror as the carefully-laid out plan fell apart. He had assumed they would be safe from above – the air vents were several independent systems that did not connect. Evidently, the solid metal walls between the systems had been ripped out by the rampaging Aliens.

He snatched the intercom, and said, "Fall back to the Sector Three! I repeat, fall back to Sector Three!" It was a desperate measure – Sector Three was the entrance area, at the very front of the facility.

"What's this, Dr. Haines? Falling back? What's going on?"

Haines almost whimpered in gratitude to any deities that might be listening.

"General Gorson, thank god you're here! We've got a full-scale breakout – the hive, plus experimental subject A. They're ripping through us like there's no tomorrow – please tell me you've got some serious firepower."

Gorson breathed in sharply. "I knew something was up when the fail-safes on the hive were deactivated. We've got thirty marines and two APCs en route, ETA three minutes. Is there any chance of holding out that long?" There was an edge of sarcasm in the General's voice.

"We'll try, sir. We're bringing XR-7 from the med-labs – hopefully he should give the Xenomorphs a hard time."

"Well, just make sure that you've got the datachip for the retrovirus. That thing is worth a fortune."

"Yes, sir!"

Haines flipped off the comms to the General. "What are you looking at, Hukken? Get over to Sector Three! Unless you want to end up as bug-food…"

_Before anyone asks, yes, the 'scatter cannon' used by the marines is my own invention. Think minigun and you've pretty much got it._

_Second author's note: If you're reading this, Raptor-Chick, I hope you don't mind the small X-13 reference in the form of XR-7._

_Third author's note: Hope you feel the length has got up to scratch, Evance._


	8. Chapter 7

The front gates of the facility slammed open, and a clap of thunder crashed through the night as the military APCs barged into the lobby. The rear access ports opened, and thirty marines ran out to form a defensive perimeter, reinforcing the surviving troops.

Gorson took in the scene, and was not happy.

"Dr. Haines! When you said you'd taken losses… even against Aliens, this is outrageous!"

"We used every tactic in the book that's been proven to work against Xenomorphs," said Haines, struggling to be respectful. "They used a completely different strategy from normal and took us by surprise."

"Explain."

"A typical Xenomorph attack is made up of huge waves of drones. They'll try to outflank if possible, but are happy to make a frontal assault. These ones sent a couple of drones to each section and outflanked us when it shouldn't have been possible! The air vents are on separate systems, with solid walls between that could stop a grenade. Yet they broke through those walls and slaughtered us."

"I see Dr. Hukken took some friendly fire," said Gorson, gesturing at the injured scientist as he hobbled over on a makeshift crutch.

Haines decided not to answer that. "I'm afraid there's more bad news as well, sir. Due to a… miscalculation on my part, we injected the retrovirus into one of our scientists. For reasons we're still not sure of, she defected and is now part of the hive."

"Reasons we're not sure of…" spat Hukken as he arrived. "General, Dr. Haines was subject to a temporary fit of insanity, and tortured the scientist in question. She had been the one who initially released the XR-1. During that fit, he injected her with the virus, and promptly gave the newly-created drone the access codes to release the hive."

Haines turned scarlet with fury. "I didn't see you stepping up to play the hero, Hukken! What would you have done if you had four metre long alien monstrosity carving you up? I don't think _you_ have the right to denounce my actions!"

"SHUT IT, BOTH OF YOU!" roared Gorson. The two scientists jumped, and fell silent. "_Thank_ you. Now, if we've stopped acting like school children, we can sort out some remedy for this mess. The court martials can wait for afterwards. Remind me what we're facing, and what we've got."

"The hive consists of twenty drones, XR-1, the rogue scientist, four praetorians, and the queen," said Haines. "With your reinforcements, we've got about forty men with assorted arms and three scatter cannon. Plus the APCs and any additional weaponry in them."

"Next important question: Do you have the virus?"

Haines patted his pocket. "Right here, sir."

"My suggestion is that we call in attack flyers and nuke the place," said Hukken, voice strained from the pain in his leg. "They've ripped through twice their number already without losses. We've got the virus. This is minimum risk!"

Gorson gave him a frosty look. "Do you have any idea how much we've invested in this facility, Doctor? Far too much to just throw it out the window. That's final." He paused. "I think the best bet is to just sit here and wait. This is a good defensive position, and we've got the firepower to take them on if they try any smart tricks. How's XR-7?"

Haines groaned. "XR-7 is… odd. He keeps complaining that his mind hurts. At first we thought that it was some side-effect of the change, but XR-1 never had any problems. I suspect that it is something to do with his refusal to join the hive – it is possible that the queen is capable of using her telepathic abilities to… give him a headache, for want of a better term."

"Is he reliable?"

"Probably." Haines sighed. "He seems to alternate between completely lucid and military, and psychotic blood-thirsty killing machine. We've kept him under control, and the vicious stages are short, but if we don't finish this soon, we may have to terminate him."

Gorson took in the view of his forces. "All right. This could be tight, but we can win this. Squad Alpha, set up crossfire positions on Sector One entrance. Beta, you're on Sector Two. Gamma, Sector Four. You facility remnants, you're Delta. Move back to the middle of the lobby, give support where needed, and keep the entrance clear. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, you take the scatter cannon, and send someone back to the APCs to get some combat shotguns and flamers. This could get up close and personal, so we want some close-in firepower. And tell the APCs to be ready to give cover fire if things go wrong. We'll only get one chance at this, so don't mess it up!"

* * *

>This could be painful,> said Shadow. 

>For us or for them?> asked Kail.

>Us. Gorson's no fool; he's clearly prepared for the possibility of being outflanked again. Those facility troopers have moved back to cover anyone, and the way they've been deployed means that if we concentrate on one area, they can bring a lot of firepower onto us.>

¬Plus they have wide-area weapons.¬

Shadow looked at where the drone indicated. Several men were returning from the APCs with flamethrowers and shotguns. They wouldn't do a great deal against Alien carapacing, but they would slow. And against all that scatter cannon and pulse rifle fire, that would be fatal.

¬_Any suggestions?_¬ asked the Queen. She, along with the rest of the hive, had taken position a short distance from the fortifications being built.

Shadow looked around the scout force. Himself, Kail, and a couple of drones. Hardly enough to be a threat. Let's try something unorthodox…

* * *

>An impressive defensive position, General Gorson.> 

Gorson swore, and spun. "They can see us!" he hissed. "Motion trackers!"

>Honestly, General, do you really think that you would be able to deal with us by looking for _motion_? How do you know that we didn't move out of sight before contacting you?>

"Never hurts to try all the possibilities," said Gorson, continuing to turn and holding his pulse rifle steady.

>True. Let me get to the point: we're not particularly keen on taking on all that firepower. We have nothing against you. All we want is to get outside. Let us leave, and we'll leave you alone. On the other hand, if you do want to hold this out to the bitter end… you'll take losses as well. We might even win. This is a way to end it cleanly. Isn't that what we both want?> The voice paused. >How about two of us come down so we can talk about this face-to-face? With a guarantee of mutual safety, of course.>

Gorson considered this. He'd let a new Alien hive swarm out onto Earth over his dead body, but just talking… and besides, they might learn something important. "All right, Alien. Come out. But if you touch any of my men…"

>Likewise,> said the voice, with an almost visible grin.

The contact faded, and Gorson turned to his troops. "Men, we've got a pair of Aliens incoming. They're here to talk, not kill. If you see just the two of them, keep your distance but don't shoot. If more turn up, give 'em all a one-way ticket to hell!"

"Yes sir!"

"Sir! Over there!"

Gorson looked in the indicated direction. A pair of shadows had separated from the wall, and coalesced into a pair of Alien drones.

He could feel a trickle of sweat run down his collar. He considered himself fearless, but the sheer size of these creatures was unnerving. He was used to the three-metre normal bugs, but these ones were a third as long again. The really disturbing part was that despite their large size, they moved with lethal agility.

>General,> said one of them. He couldn't tell which.

>Things have changed a bit since your presentation a couple of months ago, General,> said the other with a snide tone. Obviously the rogue scientist.

"Dr. Kail, I presume. And I'm afraid I don't know your companion's name…"

>Call me Shadow. What I was doesn't matter.>

>Perhaps we should go somewhere less exposed?> suggested Kail.

Gorson's face darkened. "So you can rip us apart in private?"

>If we stay here, what's to stop you from shooting us down right now?>

"You're in no position to dictate terms… Shadow. But to keep things civil, let's go into the office over there. Haines, Hukken, this way. And bring XR-7."

>XR-7?>

"A friend of yours," said Gorson with a wolfish grin. "I reckon three humans and a drone should be a match for you two."

* * *

"So. You wanted to talk. Talk," said Gorson harshly. 

>We've outlined our offer already.>

"I take it that you want out?" asked Hukken. Haines merely stared at Kail in horror, staying as far away from the Aliens as possible.

"The answer's 'no'. We have a superior position. Yes, we'll take some losses. But you _will_ lose. Come up with something better, or this discussion ends here."

>Does everyone agree with that?> said Kail swiftly. >What about you, Dr. Haines? I believe that you are in command of this facility, and therefore have jurisdiction over any operations here.>

Gorson turned to look at the quivering scientist.

"Yes," quavered Haines. "We're not letting you out of here."

Gorson returned his gaze to the two Xenomorphs. "I think you have your answer. And we might as well start now. X! Kill these two."

The insane drone turned towards Shadow and Kail. With a horrific screech, itleapt.

They dodged, but the sudden change in situation had caught them by surprise.

>You barstard!> screeched Kail. >We were _negotiating_!>

"With a pair of non-humans?" inquired the General. "Doctors? If you please?"

The three humans raised their assorted weapons and opened fire on the pair.

>Shit! Kail, try and take them down. I'll take the drone!>

>Are you mad?> A hail of bullets ripped across Kail's side, releasing a spray of acidic blood. >If I go anywhere near them, they'll shoot me to bits!>

Shadow leapt at the wall, and then pounced backwards off it. XR-7 screeched in pain and fury as Shadow slammed into his opponent. >Don't stop moving! Never stop for a moment!>

Kail repeated Shadow's manoeuvre, bouncing off onto the next wall. Her wildly swinging tail smashed against Hukken, sending the unfortunate man crashing into the desk. He looked unconscious.

Gorson dived towards the door with surprising agility. "Haines!" he roared. "Get over here! We'll cut them down with the crossfire!"

Haines was stuck to the spot. Kail leapt towards him, and he pulled the trigger on the pulse rifle. A hollow clicking noise alerted him to its empty state. He managed one scream before Kail landed in front of him, and spat out her inner jaws. They punched through the man's skull in a spray of blood. Remorse flooded through her at the man's death, but there was no time to dwell on it.

Gorson swore and slammed the door shut, and Kail turned to look at the battling Aliens. XR-7 was covered in cuts and other injuries, but Shadow was in worse shape. Neither were used to using their forms to their full potential, but XR-7 had the strength and recklessness of insanity on his side.

XR-7 detected that he was now facing two opponents, and turned to Kail. With a rasping noise of anger, his tail lashed out, missing her by millimetres.

Shadow pounced on his opponent, but was shaken off by the rampaging creature. Kail charged straight at the other drone, slamming him off balance. XR-7 looked around at his assailant just as she used her claws to neatly decapitate him.

Shadow raised himself from the floor. >Tough battle,> he commented. >Nice manoeuvre at the end, though.>

>Are you all right?>

>Nothing that won't regenerate in a few hours. We've got more important things to worry about, such as all those troopers outside.>

>What about him?> asked Kail, indicating the prone form of Hukken.

>Destroy his weapon and we'll leave him in here. He might be useful later.>

* * *

Gorson listened carefully, and swore as he realised that the silence could only mean that XR-7 was down. "Delta squad! Form up on that office. Kill anything that comes out, even if it looks human." That was the only solution at the moment. It would take away some force from his perimeter, but two Xenomorphs could do a lot of damage if they weren't contained. 

Things had not gone according to plan. He'd thought that three people with pulse rifles would be more than a match for a pair of surprised drones, but with one fell swoop he'd lost both of the top scientists on the project. And Haines probably had had the retrovirus data on him back there…

Maybe Hukken had been right. Get out of here, set up a perimeter around the outside of the facility where they had the APCs for support, than call in airstrikes until the place was rubble.

But not without that retrovirus! Months of effort and a lot of luck had been put into that research. If he could just get rid of the two drones in the office, retrieve the datachip, maybe even rescue Hukken if he was still alive.

It seemed like a no-win scenario. Whatever he did, he'd lose. Oh, the Aliens would die if was careful, but he would always end up losing something precious. Storming the office would probably be a massacre, but might recover the datachip. Destroying the facility would lose him that datachip, but minimize casualties. Choices, choices…

* * *

>That complete and utter… he stationed a dozen men around the entrance!> snarled Shadow. 

>What did you expect? That he'd just forget about us? No chance. You don't get a promotion to general for nothing.>

¬_So you are trapped there?¬_

>Yes. But to withdraw that many men, he would have to weaken his defences.>

¬_You suggest attacking now?_¬

>Yes. No. I don't know! They'll still be too strong!>

There was a faint groan from Hukken, indicating that he was regaining conciousness. "What the…" He opened his eyes, took in the scene, and promptly sobered up.

Shadow would have grinned if his mouth could create such an expression. >Dr. Hukken, you may have just solved a problem for us.>

* * *

Gorson's radio squawked, and he activated it. "What?" 

"General?" asked Hukken nervously. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me." He suddenly recognised the voice. "Hukken? You survived?"

"Yes," he said nervously. "I'm the only thing left here. Haines is dead, and there are three drone corpses. I can't get out because I think my leg's broken."

Gorson considered this. It was possible. Fatal embrace, as the hand-to-hand marine specialists called it, could have occurred with XR-7 being killed by the death throes of his opponent, or vice-versa. On the other hand, it could be a trick.

* * *

"Hukken?" chattered the intercom. "How do I know that this isn't a trap and you're being forced by the Aliens?" 

Hukken looked helplessly at his captors. Do it, ordered Shadow.

"I'm not crying crocodile tears, sir," he said, using the 'all clear' phrase. "Please…"

There was a sigh. "Can you see the retrovirus datachip?"

"Yes. Haines still has it."

Pause. "All right. I'm coming in." There was a sharp click as the Gorson disconnected.

>Just remember that if you lied to us about that code, if we survive…> threatened Kail. The two drones jumped onto the ceiling above the door.

The door opened, and a pair of marines stalked in, waving pulse rifles. Gorson moved in right behind them.

"Hukken. Good man. We'll just find that datachip, and then we can be out of here to the APCs. I've decided to take you up on your idea of nuking the facility…" Gorson stopped as he noticed something wrong with the scene. "Hukken? There's only one 'morph here. Where are the other…" He tailed off, rage building. "You sold us out."

"They threatened to kill me!" Hukken shrieked. "You'd have done it too in my position. I could almost feel their claws ripping me open –"

"You spineless little worm!" Gorson interrupted. "You've doomed us all!"

>You really should get people with a little more backbone, Gorson,> said Kail. >Even Haines was a coward – he gave me the code to release the hive without a fight.> She leapt at the two marines from above, stinging one and cuffing the other into unconsciousness. Gorson spun to bring his weapon to bear, but had it knocked away by Shadow's tail.

Shadow tried to follow it up with a proper sting, but the blade bounced off the armour. Gorson snatched the rifle, dived away from his attacker, and brought the gun to bear on Kail.

No more choices. Shadow lunged, and neatly cored Gorson's head with his inner jaws.

Silence filled the room, only broken by Hukken's faint squeaking.

¬_I see you made your choice, little Shadow. The troops outside are in confusion – they heard the fight. We're attacking now; leave the office and join us.¬_

* * *

Hukken walked over to the door. Sounds of battle still echoed through the facility – a hideous cacophony of screams, unearthly screeches, the rapid chatter of gunfire, and, worst of all, the rending, cracking noises when the Aliens brought a man down. 

He sidled out, hoping to make it to the main entrance, to get to an APC and get out of this mess.

He saw that about half a dozen Aliens were down, but only three humans remained, huddled in a corner. As he watched, their gunfire cut down another drone in an explosion of acid.

The ammunition on their weapons went dry almost simultaneously. A massive praetorian lunged towards them with a scream of triumph and ripped them apart with its four arms.

And then the only noise was the snapping, ripping noises as the Xenomorphs fed on their defeated foe.

They were still occupied. He could still make it.

He pressed his hand against wall panel next to the main entrance, and the doors opened. He ran through towards the looming shapes of the APCs. The rear doors were still open.

He stumbled through to the cockpit of the vehicle, slamming the panel that closed the rear doors. "Get us out of here, quick! I'm the only survivor!"

The pilot said, and did, nothing.

"Come on! They'll be after us any second!" He grabbed the man's shoulder and shook him.

And recoiled in horror as he felt the blood.

>I'm afraid that this APC is 'Xenomorph-only'. As is the other one. We took the liberty of enforcing that rule on the occupants.>

Hukken spun to face Kail. "Kail, please… we weren't exactly friends, but we were colleagues! Let me go! What harm could I do you or the hive?"

>It's 'Spiketail' now, she cut him off coldly. The Queen was quite insistent that I take a new name – she said it would ease the transition. Have you counted the number of times you've begged pitifully for your life in the past few days? I make it three, four if you include that display to Gorson.>

He realised that he was backing away from her. Something had changed, even since the incident in the office. There was no doubt about it. The… thing… in front of him was Spiketail, not a human named Kail.

>As for harm… hah! This isn't about you being a _threat_. This is you being capable of helping the hive, one way or the other. Probably as a host. There's enough flesh in the facility to allow everyone to gorge themselves. Relax,> she continued soothingly, >you won't feel a thing. Until it breaks out, of course.>

"The hive? The hive wants help? I can help! I know things…"

Spiketail seemed amused. >How could you help us? Apart from the obvious? You have no idea how well we've been doing.> And, in great detail, she explained how they had ended up in that situation.

"You can't stay here forever! Everyone's dying. There were reports of hives turning on each other for food! I can give you codes to access things, places…"

¬_This could be helpful._¬

Spiketail considered the cowering figure before her. >All right, Hukken. Give us every access code that you know. Every one. Then you can go on your way. I hate to think what an Alien that came from you would be like, anyway.>

Hukken typed in the codes into the APC's computer. Spiketail looked over his shoulder, and hissed softly. With one fell swoop, Hukken had given them access to the mainframes of the military, civil services… the world was their plaything.

>Good enough. Now go. And pray that we don't meet again…>

Hukken looked back at the facility. Lights were on all over it, and he could see dark shapes moving. And then, as he watched, the power went. Darkness engulfed the area.

He walked off through the streets, towards the light of the city centre. Leaving the darkness behind. A poetic way of putting it, he thought.

* * *

"So there you have it," said Hukken quietly. "The last survivor of a facility of over two hundred, spared because of a coward's trick. The same trick that must've let them stow away on the _Charon_ – I gave them access to the spaceport mainframe." 

>So now you know our mutual friend's history,> said the drone. Everyone jumped – they hadn't heard the Alien return.

"Like you said, long time no see, Shadow. How's Spiketail?"

Shadow chuckled darkly. >She's ensuring that the rest of the crew are packed away into controllable pockets. She can be very… persuasive at times. She's always been a lot more vicious than me – probably because of the overdose. He looked at Hukken closely. You seem to have grown a spine since our last encounter. The Hukken I knew would never have told that story – he'd have been worried that everyone would hate him for bringing them into this situation. It's time to see if we can get us out of it…>

_Author's note: So there we have it. Hukken's full past, and the goriest chapter yet. Those of you who noticed the 'four arms' reference about the praetorian should know that that's an idea of mine. Since in the set of Alien lore that I'm using, praetorians turn into Queens, it made sense for them to six limbs like the Queens._


	9. Chapter 8

_Telepathy note: I've finally decided that the various types of telepathy need explaining. Here's a key to what is what:_

>standard text> _'Out loud' speech from Shadow and Spiketail, which humans can hear._

_>italic text>_ _'Private' speech from Shadow and Spiketail, which only Aliens can hear. This is a new addition for this chapter, but I'm not going to go back and change it for the previous ones. Note that bits of italics or standard in the middle of speech are probably just emphasis._

_¬italic text¬ __Speech from the Queen. Only heard by Aliens._

_¬_standard text¬ _Speech from the rest of the drones. Only heard by Aliens._

_Hope that clears things up a bit._

>We're out of the danger zone in one sense,> began Shadow. >The Queen has agreed to a truce until we can reach our destination. Which brings me onto the more important point.>

With surprising delicacy, he pressed several buttons on the navigation console. A hologram of the surrounding area of space appeared, and zoomed out to reveal a sector map.

>We're here,> he said, stabbing a claw at a flashing point on the hologram. A sphere appeared around the point. >That shaded area is how far we can go with current energy reserves. As you can see, there is one blue system within that radius: SV-7210.>

"Blue meaning habitable, I presume," said Hector.

>Precisely.>

"But wait," said the captain thoughtfully. "The computer was adamant that there weren't any systems with habitable planets near enough to reach. How come…"

>The computer was still running on safety regulations. You see, there's a problem in the journey to SV-7210. The Kavash Nebula.> Shadow pushed another control, and a huge dark blot appeared on the hologram, blocking the way to the indicated system.

Hector's answer was short and concise. "No."

"The Kavash Nebula is a death trap!" said Holly heatedly. "I know next to nothing about stellar travel, and even I know that!"

I know the dangers. This is the only option.

"Would anyone care to inform those of us who know even less about stellar travel what the Kavash Nebula is?" asked Jake plaintively.

Hector sighed. "Nebulas are dangerous areas at the best of times – sensors are useless, communications non-existent. But the Kavash is even worse than most. A survey ship discovered some time ago that _something_ in the nebula causes the subspace bubbles needed for E-space travel to disintegrate upon contact with certain areas. The result is that the ship gets spat back into normal space, usually the worse for wear, and the strain destroys the drive, leaving the ship stranded. Some cartographers once tried to map the locations of these areas, but they discovered that they're apparently randomly generated. I'm not taking the **_Charon_** in there."

>You forget, captain, that we're already dead,> said Shadow waspishly. >Staying here will only drain the power core further, and the recyclers can only be sent so far. There is_ no other way_. Yes, it's risky. But we might as well die trying to get somewhere than just by waiting for the end.>

There was silence.

The doors to the main lobby of the ship opened, and a drone walked in. It held itself with a kind of vicious intent, as though hoping that someone would be stupid enough to attack.

_>What's news?>_ Spiketail asked.

_>They're considering it. They weren't happy, of course.>_

_>It didn't seem like a brilliant idea to me, either. Of course,>_ she continued, switching to audible speech, >if you don't like the idea, we could take over the ship and proceed without your permission.>

Hector blanched. "You said…"

>I made no promises, captain,> said Shadow. >It's not a point that I would have made unless necessary, but Spiketail has a fairly… direct approach. We _are_ taking this route, with your agreement or without it. And if we do it without, you're little more than food and hosts. With it, we might be able to be… partners. Friends is probably too strong a word.>

"You don't say," said Holly darkly.

"It seems we have little choice," said Hector, biting off each word. "But don't think I'll forget this. For a while, I thought we could actually trust you. More fool me."

Shadow said nothing, but inwardly sighed. If only Spiketail hadn't barged in and ruined everything, they might have actually started to work together properly, instead of ending up in what was essentially a hostage situation.

* * *

Silence.

The hive had returned to its stasis pod, and the crew to their hypersleep capsules. Throughout the ship, nothing breathed.

The computer chattered to itself, meaningless bleeps echoing through the bridge occasionally.

It discovered that the ship had entered a bubble in the nebula, clear of stellar gas and debris. After cross-referencing with its internal database, it concluded that the system within the bubble was not on record. Carefully storing the information, and giving the new system the tag of 'NMR-752', it continued analysing the readings.

Closer to the system now. The computer noted that there were five planets, including one that appeared to be habitable. It analysed the atmosphere, and discovered that the planet was environmentally and ecologically active.

The computer stored the data, and then went back to analysing the local area.

It noted an irregularity within the E-space drives – a small imbalance in the power transfer matrix.

It corrected the irregularity, noting that the drain on the power core from the drives had increased slightly. It recalculated the maximum possible range, and compared it to the distance to the target. The distance was still within range.

Another irregularity attracted its attention. The ship was slowing. If the **_Charon_** went below a certain critical velocity, it would lose velocity and need to reactivate the E-space drives from scratch. Accordingly, the computer diverted more power to the drives to maintain speed.

Power drain increased rapidly. A tortured whining echoed through the ship as the power transfer matrix was strained beyond its normal limits.

And then, with an explosion that rocked the ship, the E-space drive overloaded. Warning sirens wailed throughout the ship, and the hypersleep capsules automatically opened.

Shadow, thanks to his Alien physiology, was the first to regain consciousness. The sirens wailing immediately suggested that something had gone wrong.

He could sense that the humans around him were too groggy from the hypersleep after-effects to be of any help. So he woke them up.

Jake yelled in shock as his mind felt the shockwave from the Alien's scream. Cries of surprise resounded through the chamber as the other humans were jerked awake.

"What's happening?" Jake yelled as the real sound of the sirens got through to him.

>I don't know!> Jake was horrified at the terror that sounded in the 'voice'. Shadow had never been anything other than completely calm.

>I need to wake the hive. Go to the bridge and work out what's happened!>

Hector staggered towards the bridge, with Jake following close behind.

The bridge was filled with smoke from the shorting consoles. Electrical sparks flew through the air, and even as they rushed in, they heard a resounding crash that suggested that more controls had blown out.

But it was not the chaos of the bridge that attracted their attention. It was the view through the bridge windows. The view of the nebula.

"I think we lost our gamble," said Jake with a mirthless laugh.

* * *

Shadow hammered the controls on the stasis pod, and the capsule slowly opened. Gases erupted from within, and the closely-packed, black shapes of the hive were revealed.

¬_Did we arrive safely?_¬

Shadow was saved the indecision by the ship's intercom activating.

"To all crew members of the **_Charon_**, this is Captain Hector. I'm afraid that things have gone wrong.

"We evidently stumbled on one of the disruptive phenomena of the Kavash Nebula, as we are still deep inside it. The ship is badly damaged, and although we have stabilised the problems, we are now trapped here forever.

"The computer has detected a habitable planet nearby, which we are now heading for. With any luck, we will be able to land and start a new life there. If we're really lucky, we might be able to coexist with our hitchhikers.

"Power reserves are low – maybe too low to make a safe landing. We may all die in the process. If we do, then I just want to say that I'm sorry. For this entire mess." The intercom clicked off.

There was silence, both physical and mental, in the cargo bay.

>_Out of the frying pan into the fire,_> said Spiketail quietly. >_Escaping the nukes to die in a crash landing. Bit of an anticlimax, really_.>

Shadow shook his head in a human reflex. >_We're not dead yet. We should get the hive to the top levels – they'll be the safest.>_

The Queen gave the mental equivalent of a nod, and the entire hive started to move into the air vents and cargo lifts.

¬_You should go to the humans. See if you can help them. And deal with them if, for some unfathomable reason, they decide on treachery._¬

Shadow sighed, and moved back into the main lobby, with Spiketail close behind.

* * *

"You here?" asked Hector. "Looks like the old girl was named correctly after all. **_Charon_**. Huh. Boatman of the underworld, and she's taking us there right now."

>Why's everyone being so morbid?> asked Shadow. >We could survive the landing.>

Holly snorted. "Hector was being optimistic over the intercom. It's not that we might not have the power to make a proper landing. We _won't_. This bucket is going down like a ton of bricks, and we don't have anything to stop it with. We've used the last of the power reserves to steer ourselves for the place, and we'll drain the power core completely just trying to slow down to a reasonable speed. We're still going to be hitting the planet at about 500 km/h. And a starship is sturdily built, but not that strong."

Shadow didn't respond.

A little green orb appeared through the windows, growing rapidly. Just as it was possible to pick out each of the three continents visible, the ship juddered as the engines kicked in with reverse thrust.

"Skim it!" roared Hector. "We'll stand a better chance if we aren't hitting the thing dead on!"

The planet grew until it filled the view. **_Charon_** slowly turned so that it was aiming to skim through the atmosphere, and it looked like they would make it.

And then the juddering stopped. The engines had run out of power, and they were now flying a five-thousand ton glider without any form of aerodynamics.

* * *

On the planet below, the native life forms looked up to see a blazing star falling through the sky.

The heat from the star radiated off, and the trees closest to it burst into flame. Flying creatures swarmed away from the inferno.

The star continued to fall at an angle, dropping all the time.

And then it hit the tree line.

The trees of NMR-752-M1 were even larger and sturdier than the largest Earth trees, but they were battered aside like matchsticks by the five-thousand ton behemoth.

As the **_Charon_** ploughed into the ground, shockwaves resonated across the landscape. The ship created a huge furrow behind it, not being noticeably slowed by the landscape.

A huge cliff loomed in front of the fiery wreck, and it shuddered as the ship slammed into it, and finally stopped.

Nothing moved.

The forest slowly returned to normal, and the thing that had been watching the entire scene got up onto a rock pile on the cliff.

So. There were newcomers to the planet.

The wreck, and more particularly its occupants, where of great interest to the watcher. But he was patient. Patience was a trait he had learned during his five-year imprisonment on the planet.

Now, of course, he could leave anytime he wanted. But this place was a paradise for a hunter.

So he, and his clan, had stayed.

Ironic. Most of those shipwrecked on this planet wished to leave, but couldn't. He and his kin could, but didn't want to.

He sighed. Now that the smoke was clearing, he could see the shape of the wreck, and recognised the design. Nothing that he hadn't dealt with before. Not too much of a challenge.

These aliens were adaptable, but physically puny. They seldom survived for more than a week here. And they weretechnologically backward. They might hold some interest – they were cunning – but no challenge.

Not for a Yautja, anyway.

_So. Welcome to planet Hades. The question is, who survived the crash? I'm afraid that I will be killing off quite a few characters here.And our first sighting of Predators – enjoy, as they'll play a big part later on._

_Iconofcoolness: Glad I can provide a few surprises. In fact, originally Kail died as well, by various methods – not surviving the transformation, dying before meeting up with the hive… I just kept putting it off, as she was a useful plot addition. So we ended up with Spiketail… I wanted to keep the human-to-xeno characters to a minimum. Not to give too much away, their are going to be more at some point..._


	10. Chapter 9

_Few more modifications to the Preds here - making the name endings fit in with traditional lore._

_winces I _knew_ that I'd get something wrong with the Predators. Thanks for pointing out the size difference, Thug-4-Less – for some reason I had it pegged down as females being smaller than males. Told you I hadn't read as much Predator lore as Alien. _

_Anyway, I've sorted out that little slip-up. Oh, and that goo from the alien predator was meant to be some sort of paralysing venom. I'll probably make more of that in future._

Blackness.

That was his first impression. Complete blackness. It was a sensation he hadn't experience since his transformation. His sense had always been alive with the sensing of heat, electrical signals, his sonar, plus all the usual senses (although 'normal' vision was a little weird, due to having the light-sensitive cells buried beneath the exoskeleton).

As a sensation, it was terrifying.

>Hello? Is anyone else here?>

Shadow tried to move, and pain flooded through him. The Alien nervous system located the sources of pain, and relayed the information to him in great detail. His tail, right leg, and left foot were all crushed by something.

There was a soft groan from nearby. Human.

"What happened?" the groaner asked. That quiet one, Jake, by the sound of it.

>Two possibilities,> said Shadow, relieved at not being alone. >We're either dead, and in some variety of afterlife, or we're alive and survived the crash.>

'Sight', in its various forms, was slowly returning to him. They were clearly on the bridge of the **_Charon_**, and he could tell that consciousness was slowly returning to several others on the bridge. His heat sense could tell that the outer hull of the ship was at an incredible temperature. He could also tell, due to the lack of electrical signals, that several people had died.

He crawled slowly out from under the collapsed control panel, feeling the damage to his body repairing already.

His sense slowly strengthened, and once more he could 'see' through the walls of the bridge. The details were fuzzy, but he could see a lot of cooling bodies. About thirty dead bodies were scattered within his vision.

Thirty. There only had been fifty humans on board.

As he moved towards the door to see if they were trapped by the wreckage, he stumbled over the dead body of Captain Caraeus Hector.

* * *

Kal'Arak'e checked the shiftsuit was fully functional, and then moved into one of the gaping holes in the side of the vessel. 

Curiosity had got the better of the Predator, and he was investigating a hunch. According to his numerous scanners, there were not just the oomans on board the hulk, but also _kiande amedha_. It was difficult to tell, but it seemed that both species were conscious, yet were not attacking each other. To defy his Elder by hunting either was out of the question, but…

He looked over at his twin sister, Othara. Many joked that the two had some of the wrong genes, for Kal'Arac was larger and stronger than most males, while the opposite was true of Othar'a. The huge size usually attributed to Yautja females traditionally ruled them out from Hunts, but Othar'a's smaller size had convinced the Elder to allow her to join them.

"This is a bad idea," she snarled. "Shiftsuits are not proof against the Hard Meat, even if they are against oomans. This is an unnecessary risk."

"This is an unmissable opportunity! This is something we have never seen before. We are here to learn, most of all. If you do not learn about your prey, you do not honour it."

Othar'a activated the shiftsuit, with a final click of indignation. "That may be your philosophy –"

"Yours too," interrupted her sibling, as he activated his shiftsuit.

"– but the Elder may not see it that way. This is our first Hunt, and here we are making decisions that may cost all of us a great deal."

"Oh, be quiet. If we're clever, they'll never know we're there."

The two Yautja, invisible, moved into the ship. The huge cargo bay expanded before them, with no passageways out except the breach that they had entered by.

"What now?" asked Othar'a, activating the Silent Voice. Silent Voices were a recent development that allowed the Yautja to communicate with little or no audible sound while cloaked; a useful tool for a hunter.

"Those look like doors over there, but if we open them…"

The two moved over to the indicated openings, but they were shut.

"Well, this was a waste of time," said Othar'a irritatedly. "We should go."

At that moment, the machinery whined and the door opened.

* * *

"I don't _care_ what the status of the hive is!" yelled Jake. "Hector and thirty-odd others are dead, including Mara and my own son! You said it yourself, Shadow," he continued in an abruptly quiet voice. "We're 'less than friends'. Your species ensures that. You might have good intentions, but frankly I wouldn't trust Spiketail as far as I could throw her, and the rest of the hive is even worse." 

Shadow hissed softly. >I'm sorry for your losses, truly I am. How do you think I felt when _my_ family was ripped apart by Alien claws? The same claws that I now have? But we need to be realistic. We haven't been out into that forest yet, but I can guarantee that there will be something dangerous out there. When that something comes for you, you'll need us.>

His senses twitched, as though something had moved fast out of his vision.

* * *

"You see?" hissed Kal'Arak'e. "I told you this was something unmissable. _Kiande amedha_ and _pyode amedha_ side by side without any animosity?" 

"What do you call that, then?" asked Othar'a grudgingly. "That looks like an argument."

"How can you tell? The ooman is speaking loudly, but how do we know what the Hard Meat is doing?"

The Hard Meat drone stopped, and slowly turned, scanning the area.

Othar'a swore. "I knew this was a bad idea. Those things can see through shiftsuits!"

"Not always," said Kal'Arak'e, but he sounded scared. Neither of them was a blooded warrior, and their weaponry was limited to wristblades and combisticks. If it came to a fight against this massive specimen, it would be a hard one.

* * *

Shadow finished scanning the room. >I could have sworn… No matter.> He returned to Jake. >This argument is beside the point, anyway. We need to find out more about this planet before anything else happens. The hive's not in much shape to do anything vicious to you now. Relax. We need each other. You need protection, we need a place to recover.> 

Jake sighed. "All right. You have a point, I suppose." Another set of doors into the cargo bay opened, and five people entered.

In the lead was Holly Chance, closely followed by Warren Golzan and three other colonists, who Jake didn't know. All were equipped with a variety of weapons. This was the scouting party.

A pair of drones unfolded from the ceiling and dropped next to Shadow. I think we're ready to go, commented the Alien.

The three Aliens, six humans, and two unseen Predators all walked out through the gash in the hull.

* * *

"It's so irritating that we don't understand them!" said Kal'Arak'e exasperatedly. "They have clearly worked out how to communicate with the _kiande_, otherwise how could they be coexisting?" 

"Look at the posture," said Othar'a, caught up in her brother's fascination despite herself. "This isn't an equal relationship. Neither trusts the other, and the _kiande_ seem to be in a guarding position, ready to deal with the _pyode_ if there's trouble."

An instinct prompted Othar'a to switch to heat vision. The forest came alive with colour, and one patch in particular attracted her attention. The mask's computer isolated the patch, enhanced it, and revealed the source.

She swore.

* * *

Shadow looked around at the forest. There was too much input on his senses; he was lucky to see _anything_. This was too soon after the crash. All and the other drones could realistically provide was muscle at this point. 

Something rustled behind them, and as he spun, he once again caught the edge of something moving fast out of vision. He didn't have a chance to investigate more fully, as something leapt out of the forest.

Time seemed to slow as he turned his gaze towards the attacker. The creature was at least four metres long, without mentioning the tail. The long, six-eyed crocodilian head had four long sabre-teeth jutting from the upper and lower jaws, and resting on top of the head was a strange, clawed pipe. Its two arms were long, and had three sickle-like claws on each, with a long row of backward-pointing spikes lining the arms. The legs were also long, and each split into three smaller limbs that spun like wheels, grabbing the ground beneath it and pulling the creature's huge bulk forward. Armour plates lined the back, and three long tails, each with two claws at the end, whipped through the air.

Time abruptly sped up again, and the creature landed in front of Warren. Instead of springing on its victim, however, it bowed its head slightly.

Shadow crouched, ready to jump onto the creature's back.

A stream of colourless fluid jetted from the tube on the creature's head. Warren screamed, fell backwards, struggled for a moment, and then went still. The creature slashed its claws forwards, and shredded the man in a spray of blood and entrails.

Shadow slammed into the attacker, and sliced his claws downwards at its armour plates, and was shocked to note the resistance to the attack. He had become used to being able to penetrate solid metal with relative ease, and hadn't been expecting a bony carapace to provide a problem.

The claws were still sufficient, though, and ripped into the creature's back. It screamed as green blood sprayed from the wound, but to Shadow's horror, the flow stopped almost instantly.

Two of the thing's tails whipped around and slammed into him, but he held on. The third one went straight at him, claws snapping, but they didn't have the strength to penetrate the thick Xenomorph carapace.

The other two drones leapt at the creature, one landing on a leg, the other grappling onto its chest. Both attacked feverishly, and the monstrosity slowly dropped to its knees, even its terrifying regenerative abilities failing it.

Shadow climbed up to its neck, and reached his claws down around its throat. >Take _this_, you little…> he snarled, and ripped upwards. With one final cry of distress, the creature collapsed and fell still.

Jake stared at the scene of three Aliens and an otherworldly predator, all covered in greenish blood.

>I think my earlier point is proved,> said Shadow quietly. If there are creatures like this around, we may have to stick together indefinitely…

* * *

Othar'a saluted the _kiande_ invisibly. To take down a _levascara_ like that would have been a feat any Yautja would have been proud of, even with plasma casters and discs. 

The Silent Voice hissed softly, and the Elder's voice sounded within their helmets.

"Othar'a? Kal'Arak'e? Where are you? We have arrived at the meeting point! You were ordered to remain there!"

Kal'Arak'e sighed. "Elder, I take responsibility for leaving our post. My curiosity of the new wreck became too great, and Othara accompanied me in investigating. We have discovered something of great interest…"

_Welcome to Hades. You didn't think this story's original title was just a fancy name, did you? This is Hell, all right… that _levascara_ is just the beginning. Feedback about the Predators would be much appreciated – I'm pretty familiar with Alien lore, but Predators are a bit of a grey area._


	11. Chapter 10

_Small modification here to make the Predators fit in with convention lore. Unless I'm just following someone's own system of name endings... still, it'll probably look better._

The Elder grunted, unimpressed. In truth, he thought, he'd have probably done the same in their position.

He watched the two cowering young bloods. What they spoke of was, indeed, unusual. But that still didn't excuse the _c'jit_ insolence of them, leaving their post guarding the Shrine just to satisfy curiosity.

Kal'Arak'e looked up briefly, trying to assess the Elder's reaction, then decided to stay in a submissive posture.

"Very well," said the Elder finally. "You will go without punishment, on account of the information that you have gathered, and the fact that you have behaved well until now. But do not disobey me again. This is a Hunt. You have seen what creatures there are here, quite apart from the Stranded. Those who do not co-operate with the rest of the Kindred stand alone, and vulnerable. Do I make myself clear?"

The siblings bowed low, and then retreated to the corner of the Shrine that was their place in the Kindred.

"A union of the _pyode amedha_ and the _kainde amedha_ is certainly worrying," said the Elder, addressing all the Yautja present. "But it is not enough to be considered a problem. The _tarutaska amedha_ are growing in strength, and I believe that it is time to introduce you young bloods to them. Remember that although they look large and clumsy, they are stronger than they look, and have powerful weapons. Do not underestimate them."

Ke'La'Tur'e cha, the Kindred's pilot, beckoned them into the ship. As the last Yautja stepped aboard, the door closed and the ship vanished from view. There was a sound like breathing as the silent craft took off, and then the ship, along with the local Predators, left the area.

* * *

Shadow looked down at the corpse of the attacking creature. Even in death, it was a terrifying sight. 

>We should get inside,> he said quietly. >We don't want another of those things getting the jump on us. I should have known that coming out when our senses were not at full strength was a bad idea.>

"'Not at full strength'? What does that mean?" asked Jake.

>We were… blinded, for want of a better word, by the crash. I thought that we had recovered enough to be able to sense any dangers, but I was wrong. It was… a bad decision.>

"Bad decision," said Jake. He sounded like he was trying to hold his temper in check, and then decided not to try. "Warren is dead because of your 'bad decision'!"

>Get. Back. Inside,> snarled Shadow. >In case you forgot, it's only because we were there that you weren't all ripped apart.>

"I don't give a damn! This whole business is your fault! We're only here because of your fiddling with the controls! If you had just stayed away from this ship, none of us would be here."

>Yes,> said Shadow, his voice dripping with sarcasm. >If we hadn't come along, everything would be nice and cosy for you. Fine. You live with that dream. I'm happy with what I did. Don't ask me for an apology, human. If we hadn't stowed away on the **_Charon_**, we'd all be dead.>

Jake stared at him. "What did you say?"

>I said that we'd all be dead! They detonated a mountainful of nuclear explosives and wiped out everything on the map! Earth is a dead radiation zone!>

"No, before that. You called me 'human'."

_>Cover the entrance. Make sure that nothing else comes through.>_ Shadow turned to look at Jake properly for the first time. >You are human.>

"You said it as though I was something different. I know that you look different, but…"

>Maybe it's more than that,> said Shadow with quiet menace. >I'm sick of humanity. Before… before, I was living in constant fear of, of this! He waved a claw across his face. I don't even remember before the infection of Earth. Constantly frightened of when they'd get here. Hoping that someone could stop them. Then they got to my home, and I was running for my life from nightmares. That I could handle. Constant fear has a way of becoming comforting you know? There's something out there to fight. Something to escape from.>

Hukken ran into the room, took a look at Warren, and went white.

>And then _YOU_ turned up, Hukken! You and your little gang of scientists!>

Hukken spun to look at the Alien, and started trembling. He'd heard that tone of voice before. From Kail, when she was threatening Haines.

>You took me in, and I thought it was over. Then you give me a little injection, and I turn into this.>

"I don't understand!" said Jake. He'd picked up on the tone, too. It was the voice of a psychopath on the edge of control that's about to let go. "If you were so scared of Aliens before, why are you giving up on us now?"

>Simple. The Hive took me in. It treated me as an equal. There was nothing left to fear. Nothing left to be scared of. Because that was _our_ job. It was different. Oh, I was still scared at first. I clung on to my humanity. I told myself that as soon as I found an antidote, I'd turn back. Just like that. And then, in those three months between you crawling away with your tail between your legs, Hukken, and stowing away on the **_Charon_**, I discovered something. Do you want to know what it was?>

Jake, Hukken and Holly were backing away, and suddenly slammed into the wall.

>Humanity is the problem. You see, who was it that brought the Alien Hives to Earth in the first place? Who was it that created me? And my Hive? Who was so desperate to get their hands on a way to control us, desperate enough to sacrifice others' lives?> Shadow advanced slowly. >I think you'll find the answer to all of those questions is a little species called Homo Sapiens. And that only covers our current problems, doesn't it?>

>And then I looked at the Aliens. They… we… may not be perfect. We may be vicious killing machines. But that's what we evolved to be. And if a species is stupid enough to bring us to their home and start playing 'fetch, doggy'… well, they deserve everything they get.>

Shadow was now face-to-face with the trio. His lips drew back slightly, revealing the teeth below.

And then he turned away, seeming to become smaller.

>Get back to the rest of the colonists. We'll keep the cargo bay secure. Until we decide what to do next.>

Jake opened his mouth to say something, and found Holly's hand over it.

"I don't think we should stick around here, do you?" she whispered.

The other colonists joined them from where they had been cowering, and the six left without a word.

Spiketail unfolded from the ceiling, and dropped next to Shadow.

_>I thought that those were supposed to be _my_ lines,> _she commented. >_When did you go all vicious and nasty like that?>_

_>Don't ask. I guess I just got a bit worked up about losing Warren. I never saw that thing coming! >_

_>Don't worry. You couldn't have done anything. I saw it all, the Queen showed me.>_

Shadow sighed mentally. >_What I said was true, though. Humanity is the worst thing that happened to itself. I'm well off being rid of it.>_

Spiketail grinned like a shark. >_I realised that right after I got hit by that retrovirus. Took you long enough.>_

Shadow smiled back. >_You know, Spike, you may be a borderline psychopath in human terms, but it's impossible to stay morose around you. Come on, we need to make sure that the cargo bay is secure. Having another of those big crocodile-things coming in would not be healthy for anyone.>_

* * *

NEW STRANDED VESSEL LOCATED 

ANALYSING OCCUPANTS

OCCUPANTS IDENTIFIED: TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES

FIRST SPECIES: MAMMALIAN BIPEDAL SPECIES, KNOWN NAMES: HOMO SAPIENS, HUMAN, OOMAN, PYODE AMEDHA

ORIGIN: PLANET NY27957-4, KNOWN BY NATIVES AS 'EARTH'

SECOND SPECIES: BIO-ENGINEERED WEAPON 75984, MODIFIED GENOME STRAND VARIANT, KNOWN NAMES: XENOMORPH, ALIEN, BUG, KIANDE AMEDHA, PROJECT 17

ORIGIN: UNKNOWN

THREAT LEVEL OF COMBINED STRANDED: MEDIUM

SUGGESTED PROCEDURE: OBSERVATION AND TESTING

CALCULATION ENDS

* * *

The creature known to the Yautja as the _levat'kasura_ was a large, reptilian winged predator. Paralysing venom was secreted from its barbed tail, and long, razor-like claws extended from its four long limbs. The most dangerous aspect of them was that they hunted in packs. 

In fact, it was the ideal next step in 'testing' the new arrivals.

* * *

The drone looked out from the cargo bay, analysing the numerous life-forms that passed within its vision. 

Mostly insects. A few birds.

There. Something new.

Large. Six limbs, two of them wings.

Clearly predatory. Possibly a threat.

A long pair of claws reached out for the drone out of nowhere, and snatched it. As the _levat'kasura_ crushed the life out of the creature, it sent out a mental warning to the rest of the hive.

The winged predator screeched in triumph, and then in abrupt pain as the acid from the dead Alien sprayed over its body. It spiralled out of control and landed on the forest canopy and died in agony.

Spiketail, Shadow, and ten drones leapt out of the cargo bay, scanning the area. They spotted the swarm of _levat'kasura _immediately and dived for cover.

The flying attackers dived, lashing out with their claws and tails, but failed to touch the agile xenomorphs. Shadow flicked out his tail at one of them, which slammed into the **_Charon_**'s outer hull with cry of pain. A drone leapt at the fallen predator and started dragging it inside, ready for infestation.

The _levat'kasura_ were fast and dangerous, but not fast enough. They were picked off one by one, until, as one, the last five spiralled away.

Shadow looked at the rest of the Aliens. Two more dead, crushed and sliced by the attackers' powerful claws. Three more apparently in stasis from the tail barbs. Those would recover. And they had captured twelve of the flying creatures for hosts. Seeing what sort of drones they would produce would be most interesting…

_>Fairly good result, considering the odds,> _said Spiketail. >_But…> _She trailed off, looking at the three corpses. >_We still lost some.>_

¬It is a shame. But they died for the Queen, and for the Hive. No one could ask for more,¬ commented a drone. ¬And they will return. With the new ones.¬

Shadow smiled. Aliens had a simple philosophy of life and death. Those who died could be replaced. If you died for the Hive, what more could be said?

It was a good philosophy. As long as one survives, the Hive survives. And considering the way that even a humble drone could evolve to become a Queen, it made sense.

The smile faded. He was thinking in Alien terms, not human ones. Oh, he'd meant it when he had said to Jake and Spiketail about being glad to lose his humanity, but still…

_>I may not be able to hear your thoughts, Shadow, but I can tell that you're suffering from a mental crisis. Like I said, you're well-off being shot of humanity. It either complicates or it destroys. Not much middle ground. May I make a suggestion?>_

_>Depends what it is. Knowing you, it'll involve killing something.>_

Spiketail grinned. >_How did you guess? Something helpless, for preference. That way you can take your time. Stretch it out. Trust me, you'll feel a lot better afterwards. It clears the mind wonderfully.> _

_>Is that what you were doing all those times you went missing? I was always curious, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.> _

Spiketail's 'tone' darkened. >_Oh yes. You have no idea how satisfying it can be to corner a… perhaps I shouldn't go into that. You're in a funny mood.> _

_>You were going to say child, weren't you.> _

_>No point in denying it.> _

_>How many people – how many _humans_ have you killed?> _

Spiketail counted. >_Twenty one. Six during break-out, thirteen during those three months, two while breaking into the space port. You?>_

_>Four. Three during the break-out, one when the Queen was testing us. You remember?> _

Spiketail nodded. >_She wasn't sure how far we'd go in our loyalty to the Hive. She had the drones bring in two people, and ordered us to kill them. I didn't have a problem with it, but you agonised for ages. The Queen said something about you 'not being out of options'.> _

_>I only killed those people at the facility because they were pointing a gun at me. I had no choice but to kill. I've stung plenty, if that's any help.> _

_>But you seldom return them to the Hive, I notice. No direct or indirect deaths on you hands, eh? Remember what you said to me right after I changed?> _

Shadow considered the irony of it in retrospect. >_You said you didn't want blood on your hands. And I said 'Empty reflex. I thought that way to begin with.'>_

_>Our roles seem to be reversed. Think about what I said. The Queen might help.>_

_>No. She might be wise, but she never went through this. She views it all from the perspective of the Alien, and no matter how she views the situation, She can't see it from a human's. Let alone from the view of a weird mental cross-breed.> _

* * *

TEST STAGE TWO COMPLETE 

STATUS: PASSED

STRANDED CASUALTIES: THREE, ALL 'ALIEN'

NO HUMANS SPOTTED

CONTINUING OBSERVATION

NEW DATA RECEIVED

YAUTJA HAVE ATTACKED WRAITHS

WRAITH CASUALTIES: TWELVE

YAUTJA CASUALTIES: NONE

THREAT ANALYSIS OF YAUTJA: VERY HIGH

PROBABILITY OF DETECTION OF US: HIGH

ACTIVATING NEW FILE: STRANDED: ASPHODEL

NEW OPERATION COMMENCING

CALCULATION ENDS

_So there we go. The next local predator has encounted the crew of the Charon and our Aliens have made it out fairly well. But what is this mysterious thing that is analysing both Predators and the crew of the Charon? What is Asphodel? And what are the Wraiths? Hopefully I've got you all on tenterhooks now…_


	12. Chapter 11

NEW FILE LOADED

STRANDED: ACHTHERIM

ANALYSIS OF STRANDED: CHARON COMPLETE

STATUS: UNPREDICTABLE AND LIABLE TO INCREASE UNACCEPTABLY IN THREAT LEVEL

TESTING CEASED

NEW DIRECTIVE FOR CHARON: TERMINATION OR CONTROL

ACTIVATING IMPLANTS

INITIATING DIRECTIVE THREE-BETA, TARGET ASPHODEL

ATTACK COMMENCING

* * *

It began with vibration. 

Shadow woke from the coma-like state that passes for sleep among Aliens, and realised that the entire ship was shaking.

The Hive woke instantly, ready to respond to any new threat.

The humans were slower to wake up and realise the situation, but soon both crews of the **_Charon_** were looking for the cause of the disturbance.

Shadow moved to the gash in the cargo bay, and saw that the vibration was almost solely based around the **_Charon_**.

Everyone started to move, moving away from the **_Charon_**, regardless of the perils of the local wildlife.

That was why not all of them died instantly.

The shockwave knocked Shadow flat, and with his all-round vision he saw that the **_Charon_** had exploded in a hail of shrapnel. Something rose out from the wreckage, something huge terrifying.

But he couldn't concentrate on that, because of the all-consuming pain.

He knew that he himself was not injured, so where was this pain coming from?

¬_No! Not this way! We aren't ready!¬_

The force of the Queen's mental roar almost knocked him over again.

Jake stared at the Aliens, all of them cowering or writhing as though in agony. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them, but…

And then he realised what was missing from the scene. The one Alien he had never seen, because She had hidden away in the air vents. The Queen had been inside the **_Charon_** when it had been destroyed.

>Get her out! Now!> shrieked Shadow. >She's alive! She –>

¬_No.¬_

The pain was still there, but they were cut off from it.

¬_Too late, little Shadow. I'm dying. You will have to guide the Hive now, you and Spiketail. The rest of them are good creatures, but they don't have the strength to guide the Hive. And I may not be able to see the future, but I think that you will not be able to find the resting place that they would need to begin the transformation. Look after them…¬_

>NO!>

And with that, the pain was gone. And something else was gone, too, leaving a great vacuum that could not be filled.

Some cold, scientific part of his mind thought that it was the Queen that held a Hive together. Without Her, they were just well-organised predators.

Tall, bipedal creatures in heavy armour leapt from the huge hole in the **_Charon_**. Long-barrelled weapons hung from two of their four arms, and the other two carried huge metallic claws. Red bolts spat from the weapons, shredding the ground around the Aliens and humans.

The knowledge that they were under attack wakened the Hive from its torpor, and they leapt at their attackers with a fury that left nothing alive in its path. The creatures, heavily armed and armoured though they were, were no match for the unrestrained aggression of the Hive, and the dozen creatures were reduced to bloody shreds within seconds.

Jake stared in horror at the rampaging creatures, and then in terror when, as though they were all one, turned to face the colonists.

With an unearthly shriek, they charged. The deaths of the attackers had not sated their bloodlust, and in absence of anything else, their erstwhile allies provided a good target.

"Stop! Please!"

The Aliens slowed, and then stopped less than a metre from them.

"What an interesting kettle of fish we have here," said a new voice. "Congratulations on your destruction of those Cythera. They're one of the more dangerous opponents on Hades."

As though on turntables, everyone spun to face the newcomer.

On the edge of the clearing, a small band of humans wielding various weapons stood. At the head of the group was a tall man in a somewhat tattered military uniform.

"Captain Vathris Eveth, at your service," he said. "Newcomers, I presume?"

Jake nodded. "We only arrived yesterday, and already we've lost over half of our people, and our only shelter."

Vathris grinned. "Hades does that to anything it thinks is weak. Your ship didn't exactly look healthy before the Cythera destroyed it."

"Hades?" asked Holly.

"It's the name we've given this planet. Kind of suitable, really. This is the best definition of hell I've ever seen in a planet. Every local lifeform is more deadly than the last, and the Stranded are often just as dangerous. We're not alone here, you know. This place is covered in shipwrecks. Only the really strong and nasty survive. Including several Hives."

>More Hives?> asked Shadow.

Vathris jumped, and then smiled. "I should have guessed that you would be different to the cut-and-dried bugs we get here, with your relationship with these guys. Yes, we've counted three within a ten-kilometre radius of our ship. We don't usually dare go further." Something crashed in the forest, and then there was a high-pitched wail of pain. "That hulk of yours won't protect you now, so may I suggest you join us returning to our ship? Even in clearings like this, Hades isn't safe."

* * *

They tramped through the forest in a rough v-formation, with humans in the middle and the Aliens on the outside. 

Vathris explained about the world and what they had learned about it so far, but Shadow and Spiketail only listened with half an ear.

_>I don't like this. They're being too quiet, too obedient,> _ said Shadow privately, purposefully sending out as little force in the message as possible. _>They could decide that they don't want to take orders from us anymore. At that point, who knows what would happen?> _

_>The Queen's last command that we guide the Hive will hold them for a while, but I can see the Praetorians getting edgy already. Soon they will demand that we stop and begin the Transformation. Spineback is beginning to enter the initial stages already,> _replied Spiketail, indicating the biggest Praetorian.

They both observed Spineback in silence. Large and powerful for even a Praetorian, she was notoriously headstrong and had always shown a certain contempt for the drones.

_>She's going to be trouble,> _ agreed Shadow. _>Not just now, either. She will become the new Queen for certain. The other guard probably won't even challenge her. And once she does Transform, she won't listen to us. She'll only be concerned with the Hive, not its constituents or any friendships. The **Charon**ites will be slaughtered like lambs. Regardless of any mental crises I may be going through, I don't want that. And I don't think you do either.> _

Spiketail was silent for a very long time. _>No. But what can we do? If we do anything to remove her from the competition, it'll rip the Hive apart. It's one united organism. Any internal conflict would destroy all of them.> _

_>I don't know.> _

The forest suddenly opened out, and in front of them lay a massive ship. Clearly a military warship, it was easily four times the size of the **_Charon_**.

"This is our home. And yours too, now," said Vathris. "I don't know how the Hive would fit in, but if you set up camp nearby, I'm sure that no-one would mind too much."

"What's she called?" asked Jake.

Vathris was walking again, and seemed not to have heard the question.

The blast doors in the side opened, and the humans trooped inside.

"Come on in as well, you xenomorphs," called Vathris. "The crew wouldn't be happy with you staying on board, but a visit now should be fine."

The Hive moved onto the ship. As Shadow looked up just before entering the ship, he saw the nameplate.

**_Asphodel_**.

_So there you have it. Thus ends Hades, first in the Hades Trilogy. Look out for the next instalment, coming soon: Asphodel. Hope to see you there…_


End file.
